


Lethal Combination

by yourfavoritetsundre



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-23 17:34:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 23,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14938793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourfavoritetsundre/pseuds/yourfavoritetsundre
Summary: Things are an absolute wreck.Everything went to hell with Lotor, and Shiro will not wake up. Keith comes back because he has to, and things are...hard. Everyone seems to be at the end of their rope, even Lance, who is always fine. They're not children anymore. Not after everything.





	1. If you wake up feeling happy, you're doing it wrong.

**Author's Note:**

> Set right at the end of Season 5. (I know 6 is out today and it's going to throw everything I wrote out the window, but I really wanted Allura throwing someone out of an airlock.)
> 
> Please be nice. It's my first time in the fandom. I was super inspired. Mainly by "Lethal Combination" by The Wombats.

“Get him in the pod!”

“Quiznack, he’s heavy - “

“Get his arm off!”

“What?”

“If Haggar still has a hold on him - “

“Alright, alright! Hunk! Pass me that screw driver!”

“Keith, you should get in a pod yourself.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re covered in blood!”

“Most of it isn’t mine.”

“Reassuring.” Lance’s face was full of concern. “Keith, it’s going to scar.”

“Then let it.” he hissed. 

Lance backed off. Pidge wrenched the robotic arm off the Black Paladin and Allura and Coran lifted him and stuffed him into the pod. There was a hiss as it sealed. The group held its breath as Coran fiddled with the settings. 

He stopped and his hand dropped. 

“Coran, what’s wrong?” Allura asked.

“Princess...I - “

“What’s wrong?” she repeated, sounding more fearful. 

“He’s fine. He’s perfectly healthy.” 

“Then why won’t he wake up?” Hunk whispered. 

Keith looked at Pidge. “Fix it.”

“I...I’m not a doctor, I can’t…”

He grabbed her shoulders. “Fix him!”

“Keith!” 

Lance ripped him off the small girl, his face somewhere between terror and anger. 

“That’s enough!”

Keith turned away, and his chin shook. “Sorry, Pidge.” 

They all stood silently and looked at Shiro. 

“Now what?” Lance asked. 

“Now, we all rest.” Coran said quietly. “We’ll figure out our next move in the morning.”

Everyone silently moved off to bed. Allura grabbed Keith’s good arm as he passed. 

“You at least have to wrap it.” she told him. 

~*~

“Where’s the clone?” 

After a very long couple of nights and a very long mission, no one could sleep. Allura had wrapped Keith’s arm up in a gooey black tape that smelled oddly floral. Then she went to bed, looking close to tears, but Keith found the other members of Team Voltron sitting in the kitchen with mugs of warm milk flavored with something like vanilla. He joined them and they spent time catching each other up. 

Lance had noticed that Shiro was acting weird. Shiro even admitted to not feeling right. But it wasn’t until Shiro’s arm activated by itself on a mission and almost cut Allura’s head off that anyone realized there was really a problem. After a few minutes of chaos Pidge knocked Shiro over the head with her bayard and his eyes started glowing yellow. 

Then Allura knocked him out. 

At the same time, Keith had been on a mission with his mother and the Blade of Mamora and literally crash landed into a Galra base, where he found three other Shiro’s, including one labeled as the original. The Blade had helped him get Shiro out, but stayed behind to destroy the base. At this point, Keith realized his arm was covered in burns.

He desperately tried to make contact with his friends, but the call was intercepted by Prince Lotor. Lotor had no idea about the clones or Haggar, but the real Shiro returning would not be good for his plans, nor his progress with Allura. 

He started by trying to take out Lance, which was a big mistake. Lance didn’t trust him at all, and was more than ready when he came. Unfortunately, before Lance could secure him as a prisoner, he escaped in a shuttle. Everyone had just started looking for any damages and traps Lotor might have left behind when Keith showed up covered in blood and dragging an unconscious Shiro with a handful of Galra cruisers on his tail. 

In spite of all of that, Pidge grinned at the mention of the Shiro clone. 

“Allura threw it out an airlock.”

“What?”

“I’ve never seen her that mad before. It was so hot.” Lance sighed dreamily. 

Keith rolled his eyes. 

Pidge shrugged. “I kept trying to tell her I could use the clone to track down Haggar, and the original. But she kept screaming about spies. This was after Lotor left...Allura was having a rough day.”

“So what are you going to do?” Hunk asked.

“What?”

“Well, I mean...we need a Black Paladin.” Hunk smiled. “You’re kind of our only hope.” 

Keith looked at his friend’s hopeful faces. He felt Lance studying him, and mentally cursed. He’d barely been back two vargas and he already felt his presence…

“Okay.” he sighed, shaking his head at their cheering. “Only until Shiro wakes up!” 

“Don’t worry.” Lance grinned. “Shiro will be up in a few days, and then we can come up with a new excuse for you to stay.” 

Keith frowned at him. 

“We missed you, Buddy.” Hunk said. “It’s good to have you back, even if the circumstances aren’t great.”

“Yeah. It’s good to be back.”

Lance pulled a bottle from his sweater pocket. “Anyone?”

Pidge pushed her mug towards him.

“What is that?” Keith asked.

“McClain’s 80 proof grain alcohol, finest in this system. I figured out how to make it with some of the kitchen equipment. I actually gave this bottle to Shiro, but I can just tell him the clone drank it. I need to make more.” Lance topped off Hunk. 

“All this technology around you, and your response is to figure out to make booze?” 

“We’re teenagers dropped in an intergalactic war. Yeah, this is my response. You want?”

Keith’s arm throbbed painfully.

“Yeah, I’ll have some.”

~*~

Keith had a night of tossing and turning, half asleep. Then he lay awake for what felt like vargas, before finally getting up and slipping into his black Blade uniform. His arm still was healing, but under the black tape it had at least returned to his normal skin tone. He yawned as he headed for the training room. 

But when he opened the door, someone was already using it. Three training bots rushed at a lone Blue Paladin.

Lance back pedaled, swinging his bayard up as it transformed into a rifle. He easily shot down two, but as he aimed at the third two more appeared behind him. Keith almost shouted out, but Lance had a smirk on his face. He ducked one bot’s arm and let it swing into another bot, and in a flash the bayard changed shape. Lance was now swinging a broadsword up in an arc, slicing two bots in half. 

The bots melted away, and Lance returned his bayard to it’s basic shape. 

“What was that?”

“Oh, hey Keith.”

“I thought I had the swords! It was my thing!”

Lance laughed. “I’ll teach you how to fire a blaster, if it’ll make you feel better.”

“I know how to fire a blaster.” Keith mumbled.

“Sure you do.” Lance cracked his neck. “Want to train with me?”

“As partners?” Keith clarified.

“Well, unless you want to go up against me. I’ve gotten better since you left.” 

“You’re not the only one who’s had practice.”

Lance was smiling.

“What?”

“Nothing.” His bayard flashed back out into the broad sword. “Alright, Samurai. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

~*~

Shiro wasn’t awake in a couple days. 

No matter what Pidge, Hunk and Coran did, he didn’t wake up. He didn’t want to. He was perfectly healthy, but he was asleep. Pidge continued to run models and try things, but nothing was working. When she ran out of ideas, she worked on building him a new arm.

Keith told the Blade he was needed as a part of Team Voltron, which was true, and became the Black Paladin again. He was settling into life at the Castle of the Lions, and while it was good - honestly, so much better than the Blade - something was setting him on edge. 

Lance was being...weird. 

“Alright, Pidge! Sit!”

“What the hell, Lance.”

“It’s haircut day.”

“No way. I don’t trust you with scissors.”

“Why not?”

“Uhm, cause it’s you?”

Keith let out a low chuckle, and Lance whipped around and pointed his scissors at him. “Watch it, Mullet. You’re next.”

Keith looked away. 

Hunk was holding the ends of his own hair and trying to measure the length. “I’ll go first.”

“Alright buddy, thanks.”

Hunk slid into the chair and Lance covered his shoulders with a towel while Hunk pulled off his headband. Pidge openly laughed at the way his hair stayed molded upright. Lance massaged some sort of alien product into his best friend’s hair to make it damp. 

In ten minutes, Hunk’s hair was trimmed. It almost looked better than his last Earth haircut. 

Pidge’s jaw was hanging wide open. “How did you do that?” 

“I used to cut my sibling’s hair all the time.” he shrugged, whipping the towel off Hunk’s neck and shaking it out. “Mama was always so busy. Alright, Pidgeon. Step up.”

More enthusiastic than before, Pidge got into the chair and settled in. Lange gently slid her glasses off her face and Keith was struck by how small her eyes looked without them. And how calm and focused Lance was. 

“What are we doing?” he asked. “Trim? New style?”

“It’s too short to style.”

“No, but fine. Trim it is.” 

He took more care with Pidge, probably knowing the repercussions were much, much worse if he screwed it up. His long fingers gently massaged her scalp and parted the short hair to snip miniscule amounts off. 

“Why are you doing this?” Hunk asked.

“Because we all look scruffy. In a bad way. Can’t be defenders of the universe looking scruffy.” Lance muttered. “And since I can’t get any of you to moisturize properly, this is the least I can do.”

“He just wants to cut off Keith’s mullet.” Pidge smirked.

Keith looked up and scowled at the group, and was surprised to find Lance giving him a lopsided grin. “I would never.”

“You’ve complained about it since day one.”

Lance shrugged. “I’m not going to cut Keith's hair unless he wants me to. He can pull off scruffy.”

The room was silent except for the quiet snipping of scissors. Keith struggled to find something to say, and came up short. He left the room instead. Lance watched him go and then sighed, and turned back to Pidge’s scalp. 

“How do we feel about an undercut?” he asked brightly. 

“Absolutely not.”

Hunk frowned at Lance, but sat down and watched the end of Pidge’s cut. 

~*~

When he was in prison, Matt had counted the days since his abduction. He kept track of the date with the analog watch his baby sister had bought him as a graduation present. The Galra had decided it was too low tech to be of any threat. The first thing he did after his escape was make a small program that would keep track of the Earth date for him.

Everyone was surprised when he announced that Christmas was just a week away. Christmas! How could they have forgotten about Christmas? 

“What is...Christmas?” Allura asked uncertainly.

Lance gasped, almost offended and momentarily forgetting he was dealing with aliens. “Only the best holiday ever!”

Keith thought about the holidays he spent alone, sitting by himself and waiting for his dad to get back from work. He always fell asleep before he did. And then the holidays in foster homes, still alone, except now without the promise of a small present wrapped in a paper grocery bag. 

“We decorate trees with lights, and make tons of food, and give each other presents! My brother, Joel, he would always lead us in songs. He plays guitar. Mama always wanted us to go to midnight mass, but it’s not really about that.”

“It’s a religious holiday, Lance.” Keith snorted. 

“So?” 

“It’s about being with people you care about.” Hunk supplied. “That’s why it’s kind of an Earth thing, not a religion thing.”

Allura looked at the wall. The wall the was in the direction of the pod bay. Where Shiro was safely frozen. 

“I think it’s an excellent idea.” Coran announced. “Don’t you, Princess?” 

“Yes.” she smiled slightly as she turned back to the group. “I think it’s a good way to raise everyone’s spirits.”

“There’s a planet not far from here that is covered in vegetation.” Matt said. “I’m sure we can find something that looks like a spruce.” 

“Oh, man, we do not have enough food for this.” Hunk said. “We need to go shopping.”

“Space mall?” Lance asked brightly. 

“There’s a market on Faraday.” Coran said. “We could be there in a few vargas.”

“Maybe I could find some lights for the tree.” Pidge suggested. “Or something I could turn into lights.”

Allura looked at Matt. “Would you like some company to find a tree?”

“I think that would be great.”

“Matt and I will go to find a tree. Hunk and Pidge will go to Faraday - “

“Hold on, I wanna go!” Lance exclaimed. “I have to buy presents!”

“Buy presents?” Keith repeated slowly. 

“Yes, Kogane. It’s not like I’ve been stockpiling them.”

Chattering, everyone moved off to write lists and find money. Keith fell into his red chair. 

“You’re not going, Number Four?” Coran asked. 

“No.”

Coran frowned. “It seems like it’ll be fun.”

Keith gave a non-commital grunt. 

“Well, could you bring Number Five this list? It’s some things we need for the ship.”

“Sure.”

Keith pulled himself up from the chair and took the list, then walked quickly to the docking bay of the castle. Everyone had moved quickly in their excitement, and by the time he got there Matt and Allura were getting into a cruiser while the rest loaded into a cargo ship. The Lions would attract too much attention. He grabbed Pidge’s arm and handed her the list. 

“Coran said he needs these.” 

She frowned at him. “You aren’t coming with?”

“I - “

“Keith!” Lance shouted, poking his head out from the shuttle. “Hurry up, slow poke!” 

Pidge smiled and ran towards the shuttle, leaving Keith to trot along after. 

“I’ll lend you the money.” she called over her shoulder. 

Keith sighed deeply and fixed his collar, then headed for the cargo ship. Inside, Hunk was pouring over Matt’s shopping list while Lance started up the flight sequence. Keith slipped into the co-pilot’s chair. 

Lance turned and gave him a big lopsided grin, and for no reason at all Keith’s stomach disappeared. “Excited?”

“For your driving? No.”

Lance’s grin quickly turned into a scowl. “I am a great pilot.”

“Sure, Tailor.” Pidge muttered, earning a loud laugh from Hunk. Keith, having heard the story, snorted. 

Lance rolled his eyes and grabbed the controls. “Alright, alright. Pidge, did you get those speakers hooked up?”

“No.”

“What? I asked you to do that weeks ago!”

“I’ve had other things on my mind, Lance!”

 

“Fine. I guess I’ll drive and provide entertainment.”

“Please, no.” Keith groaned.

The ship levitated a few yards off the floor, then shot out the bay doors and into the silent vacuum of space. It wasn’t quiet for long. 

“Ohhhh…”

Keith firmly clamped his hands over his ears. 

“You better watch out! You better not cry! You better not pout, I’m telling you why - come on, Hunk! - Santa Claus is coming to town!”

For what felt like the hundredth time, Keith wondered how he let himself get into these situations.

It took two vargas to get to Faraday, and somehow Lance did not run out of Christmas songs. His ‘All I Want for Christmas’ was, actually, impressive. They docked the shuttle in a large city, right next to the large open air market Coran had told them about. 

“We should be fine.” Pidge said, tapping her screen at the communications console. “Air quality isn’t great - local pollutants. But the O2 levels are fine.”

Hunk stood up and stretched. “We should stick together.”

“We’ve got way too much to buy to stick together.” Pidge pointed out. “But, someone has to keep an eye on Lance.”

“Hey!”

“Keith, you wanna come with me and help with Matt’s list?” Hunk offered. 

“Uh, sure.”

“Oh, come on, I don’t want to babysit!” Pidge protested. 

“Who’s babysitting who, pipsqueak?”

Still bickering, they each grabbed a large backpack and headed out onto Faraday. 

“Smells like Beijing.” Pidge muttered. 

“You’ve been to Beijing?”

Pidge gave Lance a flat look, then walked towards the market. 

“Hey, wait up!” 

Hunk shrugged at Keith, who shouldered his empty pack and walked out onto the world. 

Hunk wanted to look at food last, so he and Keith wandered between stalls while Pidge dragged Lance straight towards a tech quadrant. Hunk found the things on Matt’s list pretty quickly, and then lingered at a stall piled high with textiles. Keith stopped at a stall covered in the most beautiful, intricate things that looked like dream catchers. The spidery alien behind the table called them soul cleansers. 

“I just don’t get it.” 

“Seriously, can’t you talk to Hunk about this stuff?”

Keith looked up, and then ducked. They had meanered close to the edge of the tech. Lance had something that resembled a string of lights looped around his neck and Pidge dug through a pile of wires. 

“I’m trying to reach out and just...nothing. Like I’m invisible. Again.” 

Lance’s voice sounded so small. Keith had only heard it once before, when he wasn’t sure if he still had a place on the team. 

“He probably has a lot on his mind, now.” 

“Like what?”

“Like, I don’t know, Shiro’s simultaneously safe and in danger. He has to fill those shoes, and he never wanted to in the first place. He probably just wants to get back to the Blade. Plus, you’ve changed a lot. We all have. He’s probably trying to get his bearings.” 

“Hmph.”

“He likes you, Lance. Frankly, your sudden change in attitude is probably scaring the shit out of him. Just, give him time.”

“Maybe...You really think he wants to go back to the Blade?”

“I’d go if it got me away from you.”

“Ha-ha.”

They moved off and Keith sighed and rubbed his face, then asked the merchant for a black and purple soul cleanser. Was he acting weird towards Lance? He didn’t think he was. He was just avoiding looking at him because all of the sudden he was covered in lean muscle and he could swear he was flirting sometimes but that didn’t make any sense. That wasn’t Lance. 

Well, it totally was Lance. Except usually Lance’s flirting was the most God-awful pick up lines anyone had ever heard, and that was not what he was doing with Keith. 

Did everyone really think he wanted to go back to the Blade?

“That’s nice.” 

Keith looked up at Hunk. “Figured it was a good gift for Shiro.” 

“Hm. I think he’d like it.”

Keith frowned at the rolls of yarn Hunk was stuffing into his bag. “Got enough yarn there?” 

“I don’t know.” he said honestly. “That man drove a hard bargain. I was gonna make everyone sweaters but...I might only have enough for socks.” 

“I think socks would be great...can you really knit six sweaters in a week?”

“Probably not. But with enough caffeine I could.”

They meandered up to the aisles, sometimes seeing treasures and sometimes seeing just junk. Keith managed to find gifts for almost everyone - even a very old Zelda game for Pidge that Hunk reassured he could hook up to the congluded pile of gaming equipment they had acquired.The merchant had no idea what he had on his hands, and Hunk cheered Keith for basically robbing the man. 

Lance was hard. Why was Lance so difficult? Hunk wasn’t much help, insisting that Keith had to pick it out himself. Keith was digging through a stall proclaiming ‘Best Weapons on Faraday’, which apparently meant a pile of rusty swords, when he found a set of darts in a soft leather case with an ancient NASA logo embossed. The darts were in mint condition - four with blue aluminium feathers and four with black. 

“Hey Hunk?”

“Hm?” Hunk turned around and looked over. “Hey, those are cool. I’ve never seen an actual NASA logo apart from in textbooks.” 

“When did Lance get so...he’s changed.” 

Hunk shrugged. “So have you.” 

“What? No, I - “

“Keith, I’m not saying you’re a different person.” Hunk reassured. “I’m saying, you’ve grown into yourself. And so has he. It was kind of tough on him, without you around.” 

“Without me?” 

“Well, yeah. I mean, Shiro was acting weird, we all noticed it, but he was always being kind of tough on Lance for no reason. And then Lotor moved in and Lance never trusted him. I think he kind of feels like maybe he should have been better at keeping Allura and Lotor apart but even Shiro was stepping aside so he couldn’t do anything. And he had to, you know, be the right hand, but he was supposed to be your right hand. Not Shiro’s, or fake Shiro’s or whatever. And you know how Lance is, he never says when something is wrong with him, he’s too busy worrying about everyone else.” 

Keith frowned. He always figured Lance was the most self-centered prick he had ever met. 

“And I did NOT tell you this, but he missed you. Like, a lot.”

“Really?” 

“Yeah. Really.” Hunk looked down at the darts. “He’d love those. We used to play all the time at the Garrison.” 

“Thanks, Hunk.”

“Yeah, buddy. Sure.”

~*~

Keith watched Lance in the week leading up to Christmas. He threw himself into the preparations, insisting that every corner of the castle had to be decorated. He tore up old clothes that didn’t fit anyone and made bows that hung on walls and chairs. He pulled old lights out of storage and hung them in the rec room, where Matt had placed the enormous purple tree he and Allura had selected. Then he set about making a million paper ornaments to hang on the tree. 

But in between that, he was still finding time to do a thousand other things. Every once in a while, he’d drag Pidge away from her desk and make her eat something. He sat with Allura while she handled diplomatic relations, reassuring her in between calls that she was a natural. That her father would be proud. He named himself Hunk’s official taste tester, and spent hours in the kitchen. He still trained with Keith every morning, and had taken over Shiro’s place in looking over star charts with Coran. The whole time, his hands were busy making snowflakes, making santas, making stars and bells and angels. 

And Keith found himself being pulled along. Lance was always grabbing him to hang paper ornaments, to watch an Altean holographic movie with Pidge, to decorate the cookies Hunk had pulled together with a strange root vegetable flour. 

Being back in the middle of it all made Keith remember why he liked Lance so much in the first place. And exactly why he left. 

Two days before Christmas, Keith was up late wrapping presents. After Lance’s ornament making, paper, which was scarce to begin with, was virtually extinct in the castle. So Keith found a blanket and cut it up. 

He carried the small pile into the rec room, and gently put everything under the tree. Everyone else had already put their presents out. He smiled slightly at Hunk’s squishy pile.

He heard the slap of bare feet walking down the hall behind him, and he turned around with a frown. Who was up at this hour?

He went out into the hall and saw the back of Lance, wrapped in a blanket, heading towards the control room. Keith hesitated. He probably wanted to be alone. 

Hunk’s words at the market echoed in his head, and he followed. 

He found Lance sitting at one of the huge windows, looking out at unfamiliar stars. “Lance?”

Lance jumped and looked around. “Oh, uh, hey Keith.”

“What are you doing?”

Lance shrugged and looked back out the window. Keith quietly moved over and sat next to him. The castle was always cold, but by the window it was even colder. Keith folded his arms across his chest. Lance looked sideways at Keith, then sighed and held half of the blanket out to him. Keith paused for a second and then scooted closer, letting the blanket settle over his shoulders. 

Keith was used to Lance’s body - they trained together every morning. But now, the hard edges were soft. 

“You’re quiet.” 

“Hm?” 

“You used to clomp everywhere. Like it would make you bigger.” Lance didn’t take his eyes off the stars. “Now, I never hear you coming.”

“The Blade of Mamora managed to teach me a few things.” 

“Hmm.” 

“What are you doing here?” 

‘I like to come here at night. Sometimes...Are you going to go back?”

“What?” 

“When Shiro wakes up. Are you going back to the Blade?” 

“Lance.”

“What?”

“Don’t change the subject.”

“I’m not.”

“Lance.”

“Keith.”

Keith stared him down, and Lance sighed and backed down. “I just miss home, that’s all.” He pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulders. “I know it’s...I’m happy I’m here. I know it’s important. But I miss it.”

“Christmas must be big in your family.”

“Yeah. It’s the only time we’re all together. There’s just so many of us, and it’s hard to get everyone’s schedules to line up. Except Christmas.” Lance sighed. “So of course last year I had to go and ruin it.” 

“What?” 

“The last Christmas I had...well, I had just found out that you left the Garrison and I would make fighter class and I was so happy. I was kind of bragging and my mom burst into tears because she was convinced I’d end up dead.” He rubbed his face. “I suppose she was right.” 

“That’s not...look, I’m not an expert on families or anything but I don’t think that ruined Christmas.”

“She locked herself in her room and when she came out she couldn’t look at me. For a week. Yeah, I ruined Christmas.”

“Well…”

“And now I’m just gone. She was right. I’m effectively killed in action.” 

“Doctor Holt will have gotten back by now. I’m sure he gave your family your video.” 

“What if the Garrison doesn’t let him? What if they cover it all up? Like they did before?” 

“He’s a smart man. I’m sure he found a way.” 

They fell silent. 

“Do you miss it?” 

“Hm?”

“Earth. Do you miss it?” 

Keith sighed and drew his knees up to his chest. “Not the way you do.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you have all these people back there and I...I just don’t, Lance. But I miss other things.” 

“Like what?” 

Keith thought for a moment. “Churros.”

Lance snorted. “Seriously?”

“What?” 

“A whole planet, and you miss churros?” 

“I miss other things.” Keith muttered. “Like sunsets. Have you noticed that none of the planets we visit have sunsets? And Black and Milds. My dad always smoked them, and I always thought they smelled so good. And...Saturday morning cartoons. When I was looking for Voltron I used to wake up early to drink coffee and...I don’t know I love Scooby Doo.”

Lance was giving him a funny look. 

“What?” 

Lance smiled and shook his head. “Nothing.” 

They were silent. 

“Will you go back? To the Blade?” 

“I don’t know.” 

“Do you want to?” 

Keith hesitated. 

“It’s okay if you do.” Lance was looking at the stars again. “I mean, I don’t blame you. Your mom’s there. Why would you want to stay here?” 

“You.” 

Both boys froze, and Keith felt his face turn bright red. 

“A-and the others.” Keith stuttered. “I-I mean...all of you...and...I kind of miss...Red…”

Lance’s cheeks had a pink tinge to them. “Yeah. I don’t...she’s a lot of fun...Red, is...yeah…”

They fell silent again, but neither moved away. Lance’s legs seemed to go on for miles. Keith tried to look out at the stars, but all he could do was feel Lance’s shoulder against his.

“I should go to bed.” Keith said quietly. 

“Yeah. Alright.” 

“You coming?” 

“In a bit.” 

Keith slipped out from under the blanket and back into the cold. He started to walk away. 

“Hey, Keith?”

“Yeah?” 

“Thanks.”

Keith turned around and smiled softly. “Anytime.”

“Churros, huh?” Lance turned back to the stars. “I forgot about churros.” 

~*~

Christmas Day happened slowly, everyone taking a few extra minutes in their rooms and finding themselves wishing they were home. Keith sat up in his boxers, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He would kill for some real coffee. The closest they had gotten was a tea made out of dark red leaves that tasted like dirt. 

The door to his room opened and Lance barged in. “Get up! It’s Christmas!”

“Lance!”

“Don’t be such a prude, Kogane.”

Keith could have sworn there was a slight pink touch to the taller boy’s cheeks, but then again the planet they had gone on a supply run to yesterday had a lot of sun. 

Lance picked up a t-shirt off the floor and tossed it at him. “Come on, it’s the best day of the year.”

“Why are you like this?” 

All he got was a grin and, “Hurry up! Oh, and don’t forget to call your mom.”

“What?”

But Lance was already gone, barging into Pidge’s room up the hall. There was a crash as he tripped over the mess on her floor. Keith rubbed his face again. Should he call his mom? She probably had at least one Christmas on Earth, right?

He pulled on his shirt and opened a panel in the wall, and took out a small handheld communicator. He opened the screen and entered Krolia’s pin. After a second, his mother’s face filled the screen. 

“Keith? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. I just wanted to...It’s Christmas.”

Shock registered on her face. “Oh.”

“I just thought I’d call, and...well...Merry Christmas.” he finished lamely. 

A soft smile filled her face, which was something he hadn’t seen yet. It made him feel warm. 

“Merry Christmas, Keith. How are you? How’s Voltron?”

It was a short, awkward conversation, but it was a start. He pulled on a pair of soft, Altean pajama pants and grabbed Shiro’s present, then set out for the cryo pods. When he got there, it seemed that he wasn’t the only one with this idea. Hunk had already visited and opened the pod to fit the purple beanie he had made over Shiro’s head. Allura was silently standing in front of the pod. Feeling like he was intruding on an intimate moment, Keith cleared his throat. 

“Oh. Hello Keith.”

“Any change?”

The Princess sighed and shook her head. Keith approached and hung the soul cleanser off the pod. 

“Those don’t work.” Allura told him.

“I know. But at least now we can say we’ve tried everything.”

Far away, Lance was belting ‘Deck the Halls’. Allura looked towards the noise. 

“He certainly is excited.”

“I think it’s just how he copes.” Keith said, thinking about Lance’s story about ruining Christmas. He wanted to beat up whichever McClain relative told him he had ruined the holiday. “We should go before he comes looking for us, though.” 

Allura nodded and took one last look at Shiro, then followed Keith towards the rec room. Inside, food was spread out on the low table while everyone got comfortable on chairs. Matt and Pidge were already opening presents and Lance was passing out gifts. He was proudly wearing his new rainbow striped socks. 

“Keith! Think fast!”

Lance hurled a package across the room and Allura dodged out of the way. Keith got his hands up just in time to catch the soft fabric. 

“What is this?” Pidge asked, pulling pink knitted fabric out of its wrapping. 

“It’s a hat.” Hunk said. “Matt said you used to wear pink a lot so...you don’t have to - “

“No, shut up, I’ll wear it forever.” 

Keith dropped onto a couch next to Matt and slowly opened his present. A light-weight maroon sweater fell into his lap. 

“This is fantastic!” Coran was saying, holding up what looked like an electric beard trimmer. “Thank you, Number Five!”

Keith pulled his new sweater over his head - it was a little big on him, and a little worn, but it was somehow perfect. He looked up to see Lance observing him with the same sort of smile his mother had given him, but it made him feel totally different things. 

“Keith, have some food.”

“I’m not really - “

Hunk shoved a loaded plate into his hands anyway. Keith put it down on the table and reached for the tea instead. Instead of the usual red muck being poured out, dark coffee spilled out into his mug. 

“Holy quiznack.” Keith muttered.

Matt grinned at him. “I found it in a raid a few months back. I’ve been saving it for a special occasion.” 

Keith smelled his mug, trying to savor the moment. Lance sat next to him and put half the presents he was carrying in his lap. “Here, these are yours.”

Hunk had made Keith a pair of red and white striped socks, and he was shocked to find that they fit perfectly. Pidge had made personalized digital logs for everyone, saying she was shocked when she realized that she was the only one who kept one. Matt gave him a small container of precious coffee, and Coran and Allura gave him what they called a capture - it was like a camera for holographs. 

“Oh, wow!” Lance said, opening the embossed leather case of darts. “These are great, Keith! How did you know?”

“Well, you’re running around calling yourself ‘sharp-shooter’.” 

“Everyone calls me ‘sharp-shooter’.” He looked up. “Will you...do you want to play with me sometime?”

“Sure.” 

“Great! It’s a date!” 

Keith’s mind went blank, and on his other side Matt choked on his coffee. Lance stood up and carefully closed the case. 

“I’m going to put these somewhere safe.” 

He left the room and Matt looked at Keith with something that resembled pity. “You alright?”

“I’m fine.” Keith lied. 

“What happened to Lance?” Hunk asked, coming back into the room with yet another plate of food. “He looked upset.”

“He and Keith are just being idiots again.” Pidge supplied, not looking up from the small droid her brother had given her. 

“I didn’t even say anything to him!” Keith protested. 

Collectively, everyone rolled their eyes.

“Right, well,” Hunk muttered, “Allura, try this. You’ll love it.”

Lance took a while to come back, but when he did he seemed fine. Everyone ate until they felt like they would burst, then sprawled out to chat and play with their new gifts. Somehow, Pidge had found an ancient Earth disk with ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ copied onto it on Faraday. She and Hunk spent a good portion of the morning arguing about how to hook it up, until Matt pointed out they could just play it with the gaming equipment they already had. Lance sat next to Keith with a plate of cookies on his lap at the movie started. They turned out better than he thought they would…

Keith fell asleep somewhere during the big dance scene. He was so full and the new sweater was comfortable and warm. He let his head drop onto Lance’s shoulder and he didn’t move away. 

The next Keith knew, it was silent. Someone was playing with his hair, and the world smelled like mint and laundry detergent. Keith sighed and nuzzled closer to the source of warmth.

“Hey, Samurai. You up?”

“No.”

Lance chuckled, and it sounded so close. There was the tapping of a stylus on a screen. 

“You know, if you wanted to cuddle, you could have just asked.”

Keith’s eyes shot open, and he found himself looking into Lance’s lap. His head rested on his chest, with an arm loosely draped across his stomach. He sat up quickly.

“Quiznack, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

“No, I - “

“It’s adorable.”

Keith felt his face turn bright red, and Lance couldn’t look at him.

“Anyway, I’ve been meaning to study more Altean and this was a good opportunity.”

“Where is everyone?”

“Bed, mostly. Matt got called away on a mission.” 

They sat silently. Lance had pulled his fingers from Keith’s hair when he sat up, but now he slowly let his hand drop back down to his back. When Keith didn’t move away, he started to gently rub circles.

“That feels good.”

“Mmmm. Did you call your mom?”

“Yeah. She’s good...hey, you did a really good job.”

“With what?”

“Christmas. This was great.”

“Everyone helped.”

“Yeah, but it was mostly you.”

Lance finally looked at him and gave him a brave sort of smile. “The sweater looks good on you.”

“Thanks.”

“How’s your arm feeling?”

“Good as new.” He held it up. “No scars, either.”

“Hmm.”

They were silent again, and Keith let his head drop back onto Lance’s shoulder. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright.” 

“Just tell me when to get off.”

“Okay.” 

Keith shifted to look at Lance’s jaw line. It had become sterner since they landed half a universe away from home. His shoulders had gotten broader, too. Lance looked down at him.

“Adorable.” he muttered. 

Lance’s copper skin was so smooth, and his thin pink lips looked so soft. Keith wondered briefly what they tasted like, and then wondered if he’d ever have the chance to find out. Half in a dream, Keith got up off his shoulder to move closer. 

“Keith?” 

What did his name taste like? 

“Guys.” 

The boys dove apart, the shock of being interrupted only topped by the shock of who the interrupter was. 

“Shiro?” Lance gasped. 

“What...what happened? How did you find me? Where is this hat from? It that...a Christmas tree?” 

“I should...I need to get the others.” 

Lance jumped up and away from Keith, running past Shiro into the hall. Shiro was staring at Keith. 

“So...did that finally start happening?” 

Keith groaned and fell back on the couch.

~*~

Allura gently placed a full plate of Christmas leftovers in front of Shiro and sat next to him. He smiled and softly said thank you, and the princess couldn’t take her eyes off him. On his other side, Hunk and Pidge attached the new arm they had built with some magical help from Allura. He jumped as Pidge inserted the first screw. 

“Hold still.” she warned. 

He winced but did his best not to twitch. Allura reached over and took his good hand, squeezing it tightly. Lance looked away, Keith felt a stab of annoyance.

“What happened?” Keith asked. 

Shiro shook his head. “I’m not sure. I remember defeating Zarkon, and then...nothing. When I came to, I was back in a Galra lab. Or a torture chamber. I don’t know. For a while, I thought Voltron and everything was just a dream. But then whenever I passed out, or they let me, I...I saw through the Black Lion.”

“But why wouldn’t he see through the clone?” Lance frowned. “If you’re going to have a connection with anything…”

“Haggar must have been blocking him out.” Coran theorized, studying Shiro. The princess’ faithful advisor was tense, as if waiting for Shiro’s eyes to turn yellow again. “Besides, the bond between a lion and a paladin is stronger than, well, anything.”

“I was watching. You all have done a great job.” Shiro smiled. “But...Lotor...where is he?” 

Lance scowled. “He got away.”

Hunk looked up at his best friend. “Don’t worry, buddy. We’ll get him.” 

“...and the clone?” 

A snicker bubbled out of Pidge’s mouth. “Allura threw him out of an airlock.” 

Allura’s face was bright red. Shiro looked at her with something that was at once admiration and fear. “Princess?” 

Allura muttered something about treason. Shiro smiled, but it quickly turned into a grimace as Pidge tightened another screw. 

“Lance, I’m sorry.” Shiro said. “You shouldn’t have had to deal with that.”

Lance looked away as everyone became quiet. It wasn’t a secret that the clone was a real dick to Lance. 

“It’s not your fault.”

“No, but Haggar used my knowledge to go after you. Because it would tear the team apart.” 

Lance’s back stiffened. “Don’t worry about it. Hey, I think...I think I hear Blue, I should go see what she wants…” 

Allura looked up. “I don’t - “

But Lance had already left the room.

“Quiznack.” Shiro muttered, trying to stand. “I could have said that better - “

Hunk forced Shiro back into his seat. It didn’t take much - being tortured and being asleep had atrophied his muscles. “You need your arm.” Hunk said sternly. “And frankly, we’re not even at the painful part yet.” 

“The painful part?”

“When I attach the nerves…” Pidge grimaced. “I’m not a doctor, I’m literally doing the best I can.”

“I trust you.” Shiro muttered. “Just don’t fry my brain, alright?”

“No promises.” 

Coran had his arms crossed, looking oddly stern. “And I don’t want him near the lions.”

“What?” Allura looked up. “But - “

“He’s right.” Shiro said. “Until we can figure out what Haggar did and make sure it didn’t affect me too, I shouldn’t form Voltron. I’m surprised she didn’t try to damage the others when they were connected.” He looked up at Keith. “I know you probably want to go back to the Blade, but I need you to lead Voltron. Just for a little longer.” 

Keith nodded, not trusting his voice. 

Hunk was looking behind him at the door. “I should go check on Lance.”

“I need you here.” Pidge said shortly. “If something goes wrong you’re a much better mechanic than I am.”

“But - “

“Keith can go.” 

“I’ll go.” Keith seconded. “I’m useless here, anyway. Shiro, I’m glad you’re back.”

“Good to - quiznack, Pidge!” 

“What? Did the clone take your pain tolerance, too?”

Hunk was snickering. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you swear this much.”

Keith left the room and headed towards the Blue Lion’s docking bay. Just in case, he checked Lance’s room on the way, but it was empty. It had been an eventful few hours. Lance bouncing around insisting it was a ‘Christmas miracle’. Keith moving closer to Lance in the dark rec room. 

Keith stopped and groaned. He was the last person who should talk to Lance. 

When he got there, he found the Blue Lion standing over him regally. But no Lance in sight. 

“Lance?” 

Silence. 

Keith looked up at the Lion. “Where is he?” 

Nothing. Not a whisper. 

Keith left the bay and sighed. Where would Lance go? He liked the windows in the control room, but not when everyone was awake…

But everyone else was busy with Shiro. 

Keith set on the new path, walking faster this time. As he got closer, he heard someone singing softly. Lance was sitting in the same windows as last time, wearing Pidge’s headphones. 

“I, I will be King.  
And you, you will be Queen.  
Though nothing will drive them away,  
We can be heroes just for one day.” 

Keith silently crossed the room and sat next to him, making the other boy jump and rip off the headphones. “Stop doing that!”

Keith shrugged. Lance sighed and turned off the headphones. 

“I didn’t know you knew David Bowie.” Keith said, trying to keep his tone light. “I thought you only cared about like...Beyonce.”

“First of all, Beyonce is our Immortal Queen.” Lance said, sounding a little grumpy. “Use that tone again, I’ll have to hurt you.”

“You could try.”

“Second, of course I know David Bowie. My dad always said, don’t trust anyone who doesn’t like David Bowie. I didn’t grow up under a rock, like someone I know.”

Keith shoved him gently with his shoulder, but smiled. Lance rolled his eyes and drew his knees up to his chest. He was still wearing his rainbow socks. 

“What do you want?” 

“Nothing. There wasn’t much for me to do in there.” 

“Are you going back to the Blade?” 

“Well, we aren’t sure if Shiro is completely free of Haggar yet so...I’m staying.”

“And after?”

Keith swallowed a lump in his throat. “I don’t know.” 

They were both silent again. 

“Lance, what’s wrong?” 

“Nothing. It was just a little crowded in there.” 

“Lance.”

“Keith.”

“Lance.”

“Keith.”

“Shiro’s right, you know.” 

Lance froze.

“If I were Haggar, I’d take you out first too.” 

Lance took a shaky breath. “Yeah, yeah, weakest link. I get it.” 

“No, that’s not - “

“Go find your own window.” 

“Lance, no one is saying that. Can you just shut up and listen, for like two seconds?” Keith looked at him and finally saw how red his eyes were. He had been crying, before he found him. “You’re literally the only thing that holds the rest of us up. You know that, right?”

“Shut up.” Lance muttered. “I don’t need your pity.”

“No, you don’t, because you’re doing a pretty good job of that yourself. Just...I mean, come on. Without you, Pidge probably would have starved to death a month after we got here. Hunk would be having a panic attack literally every day. Allura would most likely be dead, seeing as you were the only one who realized something was wrong with Shiro.”

Lance was shaking his head. 

“Not to mention, you’re like, ninety percent of my impulse control.” 

Lance snorted. 

“Haggar looked into Shiro’s head and saw all of that, and knew that if she wanted to take us down from the inside, she had to make you leave.” 

“I guess.” 

Keith opened his mouth to argue, but Lance was looking at the stars again. That was probably about as good as it was going to get. He sighed and stood up, then offered his hand to Lance. 

“Come on, Shiro’s probably going to need some of that grain alcohol by the time Pidge is done with him.” 

Lance stayed put for a second, then grabbed Keith’s hand to pull himself up. He gave Keith a big grin. 

“Impulse control, huh?”

“Umm...yeah.”

“And what impulses have you been fighting, Pretty Boy?” 

“I - what?” 

Lance was already halfway across the room, smirking. “Come on, Shiro can’t drink that stuff by himself.” 

Keith groaned and buried his face in his hands. This boy would kill him. He froze.

“Did you just call me pretty?”

~*~

Sometimes, it was so easy to forget they were in the middle of a war. 

Like when Hunk ran out of the kitchen, shoving food into the face of the first human he found, because he was just so happy to make something edible out of whatever items came out of their supply runs. And so happy to share. Keith couldn’t help but be happy when it was him. Or when Matt and Pidge got in heated arguments over old Earth movies, which quickly devolved into sibling name calling - “Nerd!” “Dork!” “Midget!” “You’re one to talk!”. That happened pretty much every time that Matt was around the castle. Or when Lance danced around the kitchen while he heated up food, singing anything from “Single Ladies” to “Piano Man”. He’d always try to get Keith to join him, but he’d shake his head and keep his mouth firmly shut. He couldn’t dance, and he didn’t know any of the words…

It was shaping up to be that kind of morning. Keith and Lance had a quick training session, and after Keith showered he found Pidge and Hunk in the kitchen with a huge mess spread across the small table where Allura liked to eat her breakfast and chat with the mice. Lance was heating up breakfast for everyone, sacrificing a small amount of the coffee Matt had given him to make a very weak brew, and singing. Of course. 

“You’re just too good to be true  
Can’t take my eyes off of you.” 

A deep, dark part of Keith wanted to wrap his arms around Lance and hold him still, breathe in the scents of peppermint and laundry and breakfast. This part of Keith, which he used to be able to ignore and hide so well, had been surfacing a lot lately. 

Instead, he sat at the table. “Allura is going to kill you two.” 

Pidge looked up from the gadget she and Hunk had torn apart. “She can’t argue with science.”

Hunk held up a circuit board and narrowed his eyes at it. “We’re pretty sure this has something to do with the ship’s library. She’ll be pretty happy if we fix it.” 

The mice were up on the table, squeaking and untangling wires. 

“The sight of you leaves me so weak,  
There are no words left to speak.” 

Lance put a mug of black coffee in front of Keith and shuffled away. Shiro stumbled in, yawning. “Morning.” 

Keith pushed aside some spare parts at the seat next to him so Shiro could sit, and found himself at the receiving end of a smack from Pidge for touching her things. 

“Ba-da. Ba-da. Ba-da, ba-da, ba  
Ba-da. Ba-da. Ba-da, ba-da, ba.”

“Pidge, don’t hit Keith.” 

“He’s disturbing my process.”

“Well, you’re disturbing his breakfast.” 

Allura walked in and stopped short. “What is going on in here?”

Hunk winced. “Sorry, Princess.” 

“My breakfast room is not your workshop - “

Lance whipped around and pointed at Allura. “I LOVE YOU BABY!  
AND IF IT’S QUITE ALRIGHT!  
I NEED YOU BABY!”

Allura looked so lost and confused in that moment, and Pidge started howling with laughter. Lance grabbed the Princess’ hands and pulled her into a weird swing dance through the kitchen, and soon everyone was laughing and Allura was grinning like it was Christmas all over again and it was so chaotic and wonderful and Keith wondered how he ever got by without them and -

“Paladins! Come to the Control Room.” 

The laughter cut short as they all looked up. Coran’s voice was coming from the intercom. 

“We’ve received a transmission from a nearby planet asking for our help.”

The war crashed back down over Keith’s head, so heavy his shoulders almost sagged. Haggar and Lotor were both so hell-bent on their own goals that the majority of the Galra empire was left unchecked. This meant that every warlord with a handful of soldiers at their command was out there trying to get their own piece of it. Usually at the expense of another species. 

Lance quickly dropped Allura’s hands. “Right, well, fun while it lasted.” 

Hunk jumped up and pushed past his best friend. “Everyone grab a bowl, we can eat on the way.”

“Lance, is there any coffee left?”

“Yeah, here, Shiro. Pidge, what did you do with my - “

“Right here.” An empty travel mug went sailing through the air. “Might want to rinse it.”

“So rude.”

~*~

It shouldn’t have been a difficult mission. It was supposed to be straightforward. Lance, Pidge and Hunk were going to distract the Galra battleship that was parked in orbit (“Plan Razzle Dazzle”), while Keith and Allura went down to the planet to rescue the council members and get them to their chamber, where apparently they could activate a planet-wide defense system. But the planet was crawling with Galra - this was more than just a power-hungry warlord, this was an alliance of several power hungry warlords. Shiro and Coran moved the Castleship in to help, and Lance in the Red Lion dove for the planet’s surface, screaming “The Power of Ziggy Stardust Compels you!” which was odd, even for Lance, but funny. 

When it was over, and they were all in the Castelship, it quickly became clear why Lance was acting weird. He was slouched in his blue chair while Hunk knelt in front of him and wiped blood off his forehead. Keith looked to Shiro for an explanation. 

“We’re not sure how, but he’s got a concussion.” Shiro shrugged. 

“He didn’t have his helmet on?” 

Lance looked up at the sound of Keith’s voice and gave him a lazy grin. “Eeeeeyyyyyy, Papi.” 

Pidge snorted. “Did you just call him Daddy?” 

“Si.” 

Keith felt his face burning up, but scolded, “Why are you always getting hurt?”

Lance fired back at him in rapid Spanish, and Hunk rested a hand on his best friend’s shoulder. “Hey, hey, calm down, buddy. No one can understand you.” 

Lance sighed and closed his eyes. “Head hurts.” 

“Alright, let’s get you in a healing pod, alright? You’ll be ready for that party in no time.” 

“I love parties. Hey! Keith! Told you the Razzle Dazzle would work!” He made finger guns in Keith’s general direction and almost fell over. Hunk grabbed him and put him upright again. “I’m fine!”

They left the room, Lance slightly stumbling but refusing Hunk’s help. Keith turned helplessly to Allura. “Party?”

“The Rowleighans want to hold a formal event in our honor.” She must have seen the look on his face because she continued, “It will be good for diplomatic ties. I might even be able to convince them to join the Alliance, but they are a very proud species. We will have to be very careful not to insult them. They were very insistent about the formality of the event, so I want everyone wearing their best clothes, not their armour.”

Keith groaned and stomped towards the door. He might as well shower. 

~*~

Allura landed the Castleship on the planet’s surface, at what she determined was a respectful distance from the Rowleighan council’s castle. The council sent over a few hover cars to bring everyone to the party, which didn’t stop the princess from going over etiquette lessons over their private coms. This meant a very long interruption from Coran about some party he had gone to where he had almost ended up mated to a Yurtian king. A cautionary tale. Lance was giving Keith a big shit-eating grin. Lance firmly believed that at least half of Coran’s stories were made up. 

Coran and the Princess were the only ones who had any real formal wear. Allura was back in her long flowing gown, and Coran had dressed in what Keith supposed was the Altean equivalent to dress blues, complete with medals. Pidge looked nice, looking vaguely Indian in loose beige pants and a flowing green shirt that fell to her knees with silver embroidery, and a dusty yellow shawl wrapped around her neck and tossed over her shoulder. Shiro had something that resembled a black doublet from Elizabethian paintings, minus the ruff, while Hunk wore an honest-to-god Hawaiian shirt with bright yellow flowers and a black blazer, and what he insisted was his “good bandana”. Lance was the only one who was even close to reasonably dressed, in a dark grey suit with a navy dress shirt. 

“How does no one have any formal clothes?” Allura asked, panicked when it became clear that Pidge was not wearing a dress. 

“Well maybe if you let us go to the space mall more often, we would!” Lance fired back.

Luckily the hover cars arrived before it could blow up into an argument about ‘the responsibility of a Paladin’. Keith fiddled with the button on the cuff of his blood red shirt. He was lucky that Allura hadn’t noticed his black jeans. 

“You’ll feel better if you roll the sleeves up.” 

Keith looked over Pidge’s head at Lance. “What?” 

“It’ll probably look better, too.” He shrugged. “And then you can wear your gloves.”

“I don’t have my gloves.”

“Don’t lie to me, Kogane.” 

Keith unbuttoned his sleeves and carefully rolled them up to the elbows. “Thanks.”

“Hmm.”

Lance was looking out the window at the planet. It was dark now, and everything was bathed in a blue light reflected off the nearest moon. The people here kept track of the days by what color the night was, depending on the rock color of the moon that was nearest in orbit at that time. Coran had told him this while he stood in the control room to watch the sunset, which only lasted thirty seconds and was largely unsatisfying. 

The hover car rolled to a stop and Pidge practically pushed Keith out of the car, mumbling about tension. Allura was already lining everyone else up by the huge entryway doors. She would enter first, followed by Shiro. As far as anyone knew, Shiro was still the Black Paladin and Allura was still just a princess. Coran had decided it was safer for her that way - the price on the head of a Paladin was much greater than that on the Princess-General of Altea. 

Keith and Pidge would enter after Shiro, followed by Hunk and Lance, and Coran would bring up the rear. They had done this so many times it was almost muscle memory. They would enter, and Allura would go right up to whoever the main diplomat was and sink into a shallow but polite curtsy. Unless the other diplomat was higher title than her, usually the court would kneel in her presence. Shiro would have stopped a few feet behind her, and the others would fan out into a close V formation. Coran had stressed this so many times, and of course it was Lance who figured out why. It was for photos. 

Keith slipped on his gloves when Allura wasn’t looking, and Pidge smirked at him. “It’s alright.” she muttered. “I’m wearing my slippers. See?” 

He looked down and finally noticed that she had on thin beige ballet slippers with little green bows sewn on the front. 

“Only thing I had that wasn’t boots.” 

Keith snorted and shook his head. The huge doors slowly opened and Lance muttered, “Showtime.”


	2. Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A party. A planet. And a really, really bad day.

The party wasn’t that bad. In fact, Keith was almost enjoying himself. Allura had worked the Rowleighans up into such pretentious douches, when in truth they were actually pretty relaxed. Maybe it was just the whole post-battle euphoria. They were all tall and had silver skin that glowed the hue of the moon, with close cropped white hair. They looked strangely angelic and beautiful. After the formal introductions were over, the party started in a huge courtyard where the Rowleighans danced on a floor of inky black marble. But Lance, Keith and Pidge had escaped the the second floor of balconies looking out over the dance.

“I feel like I’m back at Ren Fair with Matt.” Pidge grumbled.

“Ren Fair?” Lance repeated.

“Matt’s the biggest nerd to ever nerd. Why are you surprised?”

“I’m more shocked he got you to go with.”

“Guys, check this out.” Hunk came over with a grin, waving a small silver box over his head. “That thing me and Pidge were trying to fix, it’s a transmitter. For books! If we can fix it, we’ll be part of an intergalactic lending library!”

Pidge looked excited, but Lance seemed bored, and went back to slouching over the railing of the balcony. Keith leaned against a pillar and sipped the glass of pink bubbling liquid. It tasted almost like raspberries and made his tongue a little numb, but Coran had reassured him it wasn’t poison just the effects of a minor nervous system depressant. Similar to the McClain’s Grain Alcohol.

_“So, poison.” Keith had said._

_Coran seemed to deflate. “Yes. Poison.”_

_Keith had taken a glass without hesitation, making Pidge laugh. Lance had muttered something about emos as he took his own glass._

Lance straightened up. “Hunk, ten bucks. Cough up.”

“What?”

“Shiro’s dancing with Allura. Ten bucks.”

Hunk and Pidge looked over the railing, and Hunk scowled and started digging in his pockets. Curious, Keith pushed off the pillar and approached. It was like something out of a fairy tale, the way they moved in and out of the blue-hued aliens.

Pidge must have been thinking the same thing, because she muttered, “Okay, no, now I’m at Ren Fair.”

Lance was leaning forward like it was a sports game. “Come on Shiro, kiss her. Make it twenty!”

“I’m telling you, Shiro’s way too...Shiro.” Hunk said shaking his head. A server was walking by with another tray of glasses, and Hunk grabbed everyone another drink. “It’ll come from her.”

“Well how the hell hasn’t she noticed?” Lance demanded, gesturing wildly. “Look at him, he’s a blushing mess. It’s a whole new level of oblivious.” Lance put on a fake accent and stood a little taller. “These humans and their red faces.”

Keith laughed, and Lance grinned at him.

“Seriously? I’ve been out here cracking jokes all night, and it’s the Allura impersonation you find funny?”

“That’s because you’re not funny.”

“I’m funny! I’m so funny, Kogane. You just don’t have a sense of humor. That Allura impersonation was crap.”

Keith was still laughing and shaking his head.

Pidge smirked at them. “Watch it, Lance. Allura might hear you and decide it’s treason. Throw you out of an airlock.”

“She can throw me out an airlock any day.”

There was a buzzing sound, and Hunk pulled a small vid-screen out of his pocket. “Hey, it’s Shay! Everyone say hi!”

They all smiled and waved at the image of Shay on the vid-screen, then Hunk went off to find a quiet corner where he could talk to her. Lance smiled after his best friend, then turned back to the dance floor with a long suffering sigh.

“What’s wrong?” Keith asked.

“Nothing.” Lance said. “Just bored.”

“Go dance.”

“Don’t want to.”

“You, Lance McClain, who dances literally everywhere, don’t want to dance?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “I don’t have anyone to dance with.”

“Just ask someone. Stop moping.”

Pidge was watching them like it was a tennis match, her glass half raised to her lips. Keith was annoyed at the airlock comment, annoyed at Lance’s stupid sad eyes, annoyed that this drink was basically raspberry hard cider plus poison dart frog venom, annoyed by how itchy this stupid shirt was.

Lance’s cheeks were pink, and he had that look on his face like he was going to do something either very brave or very stupid and probably both.

“Well, maybe the person I want to dance with doesn’t really like dancing.”

Pidge’s jaw dropped, but Keith had no idea why. Because he was just confused.

“What are you talking about? You dance with Allura all the time.”

Lance froze up, breath caught in his throat. “What are you- “

“Mr Blue Paladin!”

Lance looked down to see a Rowleighan kid tugging at his arm. Keith’s translator buzzed in his ear.

“Come play with us!”

“Uh...yeah, sure.”

Lance gave Keith one last unreadable look and let the kid pull him away. Pidge was still staring at Keith in utter shock.

“What?” he snapped at her.

“I just wonder what it’s like to be that oblivious.”

“What are you talking about?”

“He wasn’t talking about Allura, dipshit. He and Hunk have been placing bets on how she and Shiro will get together for months.”

“He flirts with her constantly.”

“Yeah, because they’ve become really good friends and Allura knows he doesn’t mean it.” She took a large sip of her drink. “Why am I always the one to deal with this?”

“Then who was he talking about?”

“No way. I am not doing this.”

“Pidge!”

She pointed her empty glass at him. “If you can’t figure it out, then you can’t know. And I will not be responsible for telling you. He was literally trying to tell you, and you’re just so dense...ugh. Where did that tray of drinks go?”

She walked off, the end of her scarf swaying as she went. Keith leaned against the railing and looked at the dancers again. Allura was dancing with a counselor now and Shiro waited patiently for her at the edge of the floor, like some kind of bodyguard. Or fairy tale prince. He looked the part in that ridiculous doublet. Coran was talking with a large circle of Rowleighans, and Keith could only guess what kind of exaggerated story he was telling.

He didn’t like to dance, Keith realized.

His heart pounded in his throat, and then he killed the feeling. Lance McClain, the boy who everyone loved, who had the best ideas at the Garrison that were so incredibly fun but would get everyone in trouble, whose laugh you could hear across the mess hall, would never want to dance with him. And he needed to stop thinking these things before he did something stupid.

Keith finished his glass and resisted the urge to smash it. He should just go back to the Blade. Things were a lot less complicated. It was eat, sleep, mission. Wash, rinse, repeat.

He tried to imagine everyone’s faces if he announced he was leaving again. Pidge would be pissed. Probably. He could almost hear Hunk saying, ‘We’ll miss you, Buddy.’ Allura would say something about diplomatic ties to the Blade, and Coran would agree. Shiro would be disappointed. Lance...Lance would be supportive. Because that’s who he was. And however he actually felt about it, Keith would never know.

It was so hard to leave the first time. He doubted he could do it again.

Keith stayed up there by himself for a while, ignoring the Rowleighans who passed him, whispering in tones so low his translator couldn’t catch it. The party was getting wilder, the dancing and the music more frantic. Rowleighans really liked to dance. He smiled slightly when he caught sight of Hunk grilling the chefs behind the banquet table with questions about their food.

After a while, Keith decided to find Pidge. Apologize for...whatever she felt he was guilty of. He found a staircase and took it down to the main level. As he was scanning the main courtyard for the tiny girl, he heard shouts behind him. He turned around and saw a herd of Rowleighan kids running on black sand in a smaller courtyard.

And at their head was Lance, suit jacket off and sleeves rolled up, running barefoot and kicking a white ball around a few other kids. He stopped and kicked the ball up, giving it air to sail perfectly into a round net. A Rowleighan kid dove for it and missed, and cries of dismay and joy filled the air. Lance tossed his arms into the air and screamed, “Gooooaaaaalll!”

And, quiznack, under the blue moon with that smile on his face he looked so damn perfect.

Lance caught sight of him and jogged over. “Keith! I can’t believe it! It’s just like football! Except, well, it’s not. Some of the rules are weird. Like you can’t use your head, and like you know that weird icing rule they have in hockey? It’s just like that.”

Keith had little to no idea what he was talking about, but he smiled anyway. A young Rowleighan came over and handed Lance the ball, giving Keith a shy grin. Lance affectionately rubbed the top of her head and then started gently bouncing the ball between his knees. It seemed like the they were taking a break, because everyone was sitting on the field drinking from silver juice pouches like the ones they had on the ship. A few of the older ones had glasses of the raspberry poison dart cider.

“Wanna play?” Lance was asking him. “I’ll go easy on you.”

“I should have known you play soccer.” Keith muttered, watching him carefully balance the ball on the top of his foot.

“Why? Cause I’m Cuban?” He tossed the ball up and tried to balance it on his knee, but it immediately fell off. Lance scooped it back before it could roll away and started to try again. “And it’s football, the Great Game, you uncultured swine.”

“No, cause you’re such a drama queen.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Shit, Keith made a funny.” He tried to get the ball on his head again, failed, and gave up. “Anyway, wanna play?”

“Sure - “

“Guys?”

Pidge appeared at Lance’s elbow, looking pale.

“I think I need to go home.”

Lance grinned at her. “Oh my God, are you drunk?”

“Does poison qualify as drunk?”

“I am so telling Matt.”

“And I’ll tell him that you were supposed to be watching me.” She closed her eyes and swayed. “I wanna go home!”

“Alright, alright.” Lance looked at the Rowleighans. “Let me grab my stuff - “

“I can take her.” Keith said. “You’re having fun, and I - “

“Nah, I’m kind of done.” Lance jogged backwards. “Give me like two quintets. I’ll try to get Pidge a juice box.”

Pidge sank to the ground and rubbed her face. “I always forget how small I am.”

Keith snorted, then looked down at her. “Hey, sorry for upsetting you earlier.”

She grunted.

“Even though I don’t really know why you got upset...anyway. Sorry.”

She turned her head and vomited on the black sand. Keith swore and knelt down to rub her back. After three hurls, she groaned and wiped small tears out of her eyes. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright. Who knows what’s in that stuff. Probably better out than in.”

She nodded and Keith waited a few minutes to be sure she was done before gently helping her back to her feet. Lance came back over with his socks hanging out of a pocket, bare feet stuffed in his shoes, and coat over his arm. He waved a juice pouch in the air.

“Alright, let’s go. What happened?”

“She puked.” Keith said.

Lance took one look at the way she was trembling, and handed Keith his jacket before crouching in front of Pidge. “Alright, little Pidgeon. Hop on.”

Pidge didn’t argue. She climbed onto the tall boy’s back and wrapped her arms around his neck. Lance made sure he had a tight grip on her legs before carefully standing. Pidge rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

“How do we get out of here?” Lance muttered, looking towards the dance floor.

“I think it was this way.” Keith said.

“You think?”

Keith ignored him and led him around the corner of the dance floor. They ran into Coran and gave him a short explanation of what happened, and he thankfully confirmed that Keith was correct in the way to get out.

But when they got out of the palace, there were hovercars and no drivers. Well, there was a driver, who was passed out with a bottle of raspberry poison dart cider. Keith opened the door of the nearest car.

“You don’t know how to drive this.” Lance said incredulously.

“I can drive anything.” Keith shot back. “Don’t trust me, then walk.”

Lance grimaced and opened a back door. He gently set Pidge down and let her lay across the seat. He took his jacket back from Keith and spread it across her, then made sure her feet were tucked in before shutting the door. He got in the front with Keith.

“Ever think it’s weird how similar to Earth some things are?” he asked. “Like that game. This passenger seat.”

“It’s safer to have someone in the front with you.” Keith replied automatically, studying the dashboard. He tried a button and the car zipped to life, floating a few feet off the ground. “Someone else to see the terrain, see...attacks.”

“It’s also nicer. To have company.”

Keith rolled his eyes and took the steering handles. There were no pedals, but when he pulled the handles towards himself the car backed up. Simple. So that meant…

“It’s okay to admit you like my company.” Lance said.

Keith turned the car around and directed it towards the castleship. “Fine, Lance. I enjoy your company. Thank you for being my co-pilot. Happy?”

He grinned at him. “Let’s go, flyboy.”

It was a quick but silent trip home. Lance was looking out the window again. Pidge was gently snoring in the back. Keith hoped that the others were still having a good time. He also hoped that the Rowleighans wouldn’t get pissed that he stole a hover car. Then again, he only did it because the only driver there was passed out drunk-poisoned.

He parked the car and turned it off, and Lance gently shook Pidge awake.

“Katie.” he said softly in his older brother voice. “Come on, I’ll carry you again.”

She moaned but sat up. Keith took Lance’s jacket and Lance made sure he had Pidge secured on his back before walking towards the castleship. Keith handed Pidge the juice pouch, and she seemed to perk up a little bit as she drank it.

“What will you guys do when we get home?” Pidge asked, chewing on her straw.

“Give my brother Benji a noogie.” Lance said instantly.

Keith snorted.

“Don’t laugh at me, Kogane. He left a window open in a thunderstorm and my whole comic book collection got destroyed. My mom told me about it like a week before we left. He deserves that noogie.” He adjusted his grip on Pidge’s legs. “What about you Pidgeon?”

“Doesn’t matter what I want to do.” she yawned. “My mother will ground me until I’m ninety when I get back.”

“You’re a Paladin of Voltron. You’re basically like the space police. Your mother can’t ground you.”

“You underestimate her.” Pidge paused and drank more juice. “Matt’s way more fucked than I am. He was in prison.”

“I feel like there’s a lot of politics that your mother doesn’t understand in this scenario.”

“All she knows is I ran away on a wild goose chase to the other end of the universe.” Pidge looked over at Keith. “And Matt got himself kidnapped. What will you do?”

Keith opened his mouth to say he probably would never go back. He had nothing there.

But Lance said, “He’s coming home with me.”

Keith’s voice died in his throat. Pidge straightened up. “Really?”

“Ow, don’t dig your heels in like that. Yes, really. Someone needs to socialize him properly.”

Keith glared at him. “So funny.”

“I know.”

They finally reached Pidge’s room and Lance carefully stepped over the mess inside and dropped the tiny girl on her bed. She reached up and patted his leg. “Good job.”

Lance rolled his eyes and helped her unwrap her scarf, and take off her slippers. He covered her in a blanket and kissed her forehead. “Goodnight.”

“Night.” As Lance moved past Keith she propped herself up on her elbows. “Keith?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t overthink it.”

“Overthink what?”

She sighed and let herself fall onto her pillow. “Oblivious.”

Keith turned off the lights and stepped out to shut the door. Lance was waiting for him.

“Well, that was fun.” he sighed.

Keith handed him his jacket and they both walked up the hall towards their rooms.

“Hey Lance, about going home - “

“I know we’re not going home.”

Keith stopped short. “What? But you always - “

“I miss it, yeah.” Lance shrugged. “But I came to terms with it a while ago. This whole thing...Voltron. It didn’t end with Zarkon. It doesn’t end with the Galra empire, or Haggar. There’s always going to be something else to fight. Realistically, I know I’m probably going to die out here.”

“So why did you - “

“Because Pidge is still a kid.” He looked upset, and Keith finally realized what it was. The older brother in him was fiercely protective of Pidge, even if it meant lying to her. “It’s so hard to remember sometimes, but if anyone gets the chance to go home, it should be her.”

Keith looked at his feet. He wasn’t wrong.

“Anyway, I should go to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He opened the door to his room, and the name bubbled out of his lips before he could stop it. “Lance?”

“What?”

“When we get home…” he paused and it was too late to stop now, “...when we get home, I’ll take you for churros.”

Lance smiled, but his eyes were still a little sad. “Yeah. It’s a date.”

The door to his room slid shut behind him, and Keith rubbed his face before going up the hall, past Hunk’s room and into his own. He took off his itchy shirt and well worn jeans and sat in bed in the dark.

Take him for churros. He was so fucking stupid.

He didn’t want to think about it, but he did want to take Lance for churros. He wanted to go to a boardwalk and smell the sea, because Lance was always talking about the sea, and maybe watch the sunset.

He was so lame. But he kept thinking. Once it started, it wouldn’t stop.

One day, he wanted to say yes to Lance’s request to dance. Just to see the shocked smile on his face. He wanted to pin him to a wall and for once make him use his mouth for something other than talking. He wanted to know what pure, intense pleasure looked like on his face. He wanted to know what he dreamed about, and how he moved in his sleep.

Keith ripped off his gloves and tossed them into a corner of the room, then lay down. Lance wanted someone he could dance with. Someone who could jabber away at a mile a minute, who appreciated shitty pick up lines. Someone who saw the passenger seat as a place for company on a long ride, and not the seat for the sniper.

Why couldn’t the raspberry poison cider just have killed him?

~*~

There were a lot of sleepless night, in the castleship. At any given moment, someone was up because of a bad dream. Or a racing mind. Jumpy nerves.

There had been news of Haggar in a nearby system, but by the time they got there she was gone. She had left behind a destroyed planet, like a calling card.

After an hour or so of failing to find sleep, Keith left his room and meandered. As he neared the rec room, he heard Allura’s voice. She sounded shaky, like she had been crying.

“And I just couldn’t move. I just had to stand there and watch…”

Keith was about to walk in when he heard Shiro saying, “It’s alright Princess. It’s fine.”

Keith peered into the room and saw Allura nestled in Shiro’s arms. Suddenly she pulled away, wiping her face. “Sorry. I shouldn’t...what would the others say if they saw me like this?”

“That you’re brave.”

Keith backed away from the room. He headed for the control room, but found Coran instead of Lance. Was he looking for Lance?

“Can’t sleep, Number Four?”

“Seems like it’s going around. What are you doing?”

“I’m just putting together a memorial for the people of Gynia.”

“That’s...that’s really nice, Coran.”

“They were originally a trading colony.” Coran looked up at an image of the planet. “All types of species inhabited the planet. They would go to trade and stay to make families and build cities. My grandfather met his first wife there.”

Keith stared at the planet. “Could we have saved them?”

Coran paused, then, “No. I don’t think we could have.”

Keith couldn’t think of anything to say, so he left the room. He wandered down to the docking bay level, and came across Pidge working at her desk next to the Green Lion. Hunk was sleeping with his head on the table and a blanket over his shoulders.

“Hey.”

Pidge looked up. “Oh, hi Keith. Can’t sleep?”

“No.”

“Yeah, that’s what this one was saying.” She looked back at her laptop. “Lance isn’t here.”

“Why would I be looking for Lance?”

“I just assumed. You’ve been spending a lot of time together.”

Keith felt his face heating up and changed the subject. “Why are you up?”

“Waiting for a call from Matt.” She yawned. “He promised he’d check in.”

In the corner of his mind, Keith heard a low growl. He turned and looked at the red door across the hall.

“Well, good luck.” he said vaguely.

“Thanks.”

He headed across the hall and opened Red’s door. Feelings of warmth and fierce loyalty washed over him.

_Hello, Little One._

Keith smiled and approached. He climbed up on top of one of the paws and lay down.

“Is McClain taking care of you?” he asked.

 _Messy_ , Red rumbled in the back of his head. _Talks too much._

“Sounds like him”

_He’s just like you._

Keith scowled. “Doubt it.”

Red pushed an image of Lance at him. He looked sad. Scared. Keith hated the sad look that always seemed to be gracing Lance’s face these days. It was one of too many battles, and not a lot of hope.

_Brave and alone._

Keith sighed and folded his arms behind his head. “Forgot how much I love our talks. You trying to make me talk to Lance. Me not wanting to.”

 _You wouldn’t be alone if you were together,_ Red purred slyly.

“I don’t think you understand the meaning of that word.”

_I am much older and much wiser that you could possibly imagine, Little One. I know exactly what I’m saying._

The door opened and Lance walked in. “Hey, want a iced jojoberry tea?”

Keith sat up. “How did you - “

“Red told me you were down here.”

Keith looked up at the massive lion’s head. Seriously?

_I also know exactly what I’m doing._

Lance climbed up next to Keith and handed over a drink. He sat on the edge and let his legs dangle.

“Guess no one is sleeping tonight, huh?”

“Hunk was sleeping when I saw him.”

“I think Pidge woke him back up.”

“Poor guy.” Keith lay back down. “Red says you’re messy.”

“She said you’re a hot head.” Lance slurped on his milkshake. “Are you going back to the Blade?”

“Why do you keep asking me that?”

Lance shrugged, but didn’t answer. Keith shut his eyes and reached out to Red, but with Lance in the room the Lion had pulled away. He felt Black instead - stoic and proud. Lance was quietly humming something to himself.

“How’s Black treating you?”

“Good. He’s...he hates going fast though.”

Black tickled the back of his mind with an image of Shiro. _Patience yields focus._

Lance looked up at Red fondly. “Yeah, Red likes it a little too much...oh, come on. I know you prefer Han Solo over here but I’m doing my best, alright?”

Keith laughed and sat up to take a sip of tea. “Why do you have so many names for me?”

Lance shrugged. “Dunno...Red says she calls you Little One. That’s adorable.”

Keith lazily reached over and swatted Lance. “Why? What does she call you?”

“Azul.” He scratched the back of his head. “I didn’t realize it at first, but I think I hear her in Spanish. Anyway, sometimes it’s hard to tell if she’s talking about me or Blue. Or like, Yellow and Hunk are the same to her.”

“It must have to do with the bond.”

“Mmm.”

Red briefly burst into Keith’s head again with an image. He remembered this moment. It was his first month at the Garrison, and after classes he had gone into the tiny rundown town and sat on the hood of a rusted out truck in the liquor store parking lot and chewed mindlessly on sunflower seeds while the sun set. He remembered this moment, because Lance had come out of the liquor store and stopped short, openly staring at Keith, and Keith had wondered what the hell his problem was.

 _He thinks you’re beautiful_. Red whispered smugly.

Lance had stopped short because the gold light from the sunset made Keith’s skin glow, and his sunglasses covered half of his face and reflected the parking lot back at him. Keith could hear Lance’s heart pounding -

I’m sure that was supposed to be private, Keith mentally snapped at Red.

Next to him, Lance suddenly sat up straight, and Keith glared up at the Lion. What did you do?

_Nothing._

Red, what did you do?

Another image burst into Keith’s head, this time one of his own memories. Lance was sitting in his window, wearing a blanket and a soft smile as he looked at the stars.

_I told him that you see him._

Keith’s mind was completely blank. How did he pretend that Red wasn’t meddling? How did he act like nothing was wrong?

Lance sighed and cracked his neck. “Are you tired?”

“No.”

“Wanna go for a joy ride?”

Keith sat up and looked at him in shock. “Seriously?”

“We’ll call it patrolling.” He rolled his eyes. “Come on, Shiro and Allura are busy pretending they aren’t suffocating in sexual tension. Pidge and Hunk are being boring. And Coran will buy anything we tell him.”

Keith thought about it for a minute. These were the kinds of ideas that Lance was always coming up with at the Garrison, that usually landed a handful of cadets in Iverson’s office.

“Fine. But I’m driving.”

Lance gave him a big grin. “Only if I get to be co-pilot.”

“There’s no place for a co-pilot in Red.”

“We’re not taking Red. She’s being annoying, so I’m grounding her.” Lance glared up at the her. “You hear that, Missy?”

Red was silent, at least in Keith’s mind, and Lance jumped off the enormous paw.

“Come on, we can take one of the little fighter jets.”

Keith slid off the paw next to Lance. “If we get in trouble, it was your idea.”

“We won’t get in trouble. Let’s go.”

They ran down the hall to the general docking bay. Lance chose a jet and quickly ushered Keith inside. They barely had time to strap in before Coran appeared on the com screen.

“Where do you two think you’re going?”

“Patrol.” Lance lied.

“I see. And who authorized this?”

“Uhhh…Shiro?”

“Oh, really.”

“We just wanted some fresh...vacuum?” Keith looked at Lance. “Told you we’d get in trouble.”

“Come on, Coran. We’ll be two vargas. Tops.” Lance held up his hands. “Keith can’t sleep, and the motion of a fighter jet always calms him down.”

Coran straightened up. “Ah! It always had that effect on me as well, Number Four.”

“Are you kidding me?” Keith asked flatly.

“Yeah, Coran, so we’re just gonna go out for a little bit and we’ll be right back. We won’t even go to a planet.”

“I expect you back in two vargas. If you see any Galra or pirates, do not engage.”

“Roger that.”

“I was speaking to Number Four. Be careful.”

The communication ended and Lance grinned at Keith. “See? That was easy.”

Keith rolled his eyes and started the flight sequence. The jet silently rose up off the floor and the landing gear slid into the ship. Keith grabbed hold of the controls and punched the accelerator, swooping out of the docking bay and into the void. Next to him, Lance let out a wild cry of delight and Keith grinned.

“Hey, bear forty degrees right. There’s a planet that Hunk told me about that I want to check out.”

“You literally just told Coran we weren’t going to a planet.”

“We’re just going to orbit it for a dobash.”

Keith sighed and followed his instructions. It took them awhile to get to the planet Lance was trying to find. In fact, they passed several other planets and a space station on the way. Lance commented now and then on star clusters, and hummed bits and pieces of different songs.

Finally, he straightened up. “That’s it. Slow down!”

Keith slowed the jet and looked out at the planet. Even from here, he could tell it was covered in lush green growth.

“Take us in.”

“What? No way. You said - “

“Kogane, you got kicked out of the Garrison, and I can’t convince you to break one little promise that you didn’t even make?”

“I got kicked out for punching Iverson in the face. Not for lying about it.”

But Lance was looking at him so hopefully and Keith sighed.

“It’s not inhabited, is it?”

“Nope.”

“Cause we don’t have any weapons or anything.”

“It’ll be fine. In fact, I’m doing this for you.”

“What?”

“Just get us on the ground, flyboy.”

Keith carefully brought the jet in on the dark side of the planet, circling a little until he found a good entry angle. Lance was very insistent that he not land here, he had to go further. No, not there either. There. This was good. Keith landed on a cliff edge, the only spot he could find that wasn’t covered in trees.

Lance looked and a screen and frowned. “Oh.”

“What?”

“The air quality...we can’t leave the jet.” He sat up straighter. “Whatever, we can watch it from here.”

“Watch what?”

“Shh...it’s starting.”

Lance was intently looking out the window, and Keith followed his gaze. What was he looking at? It was so dark.

The sky was starting to get lighter.

Keith smiled slightly. Oh.

Red and gold hues were spreading across the sky, and a tiny light was peering over the horizon. It wasn’t technically a sunset, but it was close.

He glanced over to see Lance smiling hopefully at him.

“You found me a planet with a sunset.” he said softly.

“Well, sunrise, technically.” Lance looked back out the window. “I guess the planet gets so hot during the day, that all the vegetation gets killed off and it all grows back overnight. Kind of kills the mood for a sunset.”

Keith got out of his seat and stood, leaning against the window to see better. The blood red sky was spreading over the jet. Lance got up and stood next to him. Uncertain, he slipped his hand into Keith’s.

Keith turned and looked at him. “Thank you.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I mean it.”

“I think - “

Before he could even think it all the way through, Keith pulled Lance closer and briefly pressed his lips to the other boy’s mouth. Lance froze up, his breath caught in his throat.

“Oh my God.” Keith muttered, dropping his hand. “Oh my God. I misread that.”

“I -”

“I’m so sorry. Fuck. I...you have to know...I’m...I just thought...Friends don’t hold hands, Lance!”

Lance seemed to wake up. A slow grin filled his face.

“You’re so adorable.”

“I...what?”

Lance cupped his face and pulled him close, finding his lips. Keith let himself relax against him, and everything about the moment was perfect. Lance tasted like the milkshake he had made earlier and his skin was softer than he could have imagined. Keith slowly pushed him back towards the co-pilot’s seat, and climbed over him. He almost died as Lance pulled gently at his hair.

“Keith.”

Keith pulled away slightly and looked down at him.

“I -”

“Paladins! Come in!”

Keith fell off of Lance’s lap and onto the floor, groaning as he hit his head on his own seat. Lance stared slack jawed at the com screen. Coran’s mustache filled the majority of the space.

“Where’s Keith?”

Keith sat up and rubbed the back of his head. “Right here.”

“We need you to come back right away. We have a lead on Lotor.”

“Great. We’ll be there in twenty dobashes.”

“Where are you? ...Are you on a planet?”

“Gotta go, see you soon!” Lance shouted, closing the com line.

Keith was already up and getting back into his seat. The sky was now gold, and the plants were starting to shrivel. He started inputting the flight sequence.

“Do you think the lead will be good?”

He glanced over and saw Lance’s set jaw. “It better be.”

It was a silent flight back to the castleship, with Lance lost in his own thoughts, focused on Lotor. The one that got away. Keith kept replaying the moments on the planet in his head.

Lance wanted him.

Lance took him to see something beautiful. Something he knew he missed.

Lance kissed him. And kept kissing him.

He had to get this out of his system before the mission. He couldn’t afford to be distracted.

Keith brought in the jet in and gently set it down in its place. He and Lance unbuckled their seatbelts and climbed out of the jet. Keith started towards the elevator that would take him straight to the control room, but Lance grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

“Be careful.” he said.

“You too.”

“I mean it, flyboy.”

“You’re the one always getting hurt.”

Lance cupped his chin and kissed him again. Keith wanted to melt.

“Talk later?”

“Yeah.”

“Great.” Lance released him. “Oh, shit.”

Keith turned back to the elevator and saw Hunk grinning widely while Pidge grumbled and slapped a twenty dollar bill into his hand.  
“You jackasses couldn’t wait another week?” she snapped.

Keith sighed and walked towards them. “Come on, we have a mission.”

“Are you guys going to be cute and gross all the time now?” Hunk asked.

“Coran is waiting to brief us.”

Pidge was grinning now. “Look at them blushing.”

~*~

Lotor had been spotted entering a Galra base on a planet on the other side of the galaxy. Allura wormholed them over before jumping into the Blue Lion.

“Everyone keep your eyes open.” Shiro cautioned. “Lotor could have any number of traps ready for you.”

“Roger that.” Lance said. “Princess, you ready?”

“Yes, Lance. Thank you.”

Keith turned the Black Lion and dove towards the planet, the other Lions following. “Brace yourselves.”

Silence as they approached.

“What’s going on?” Coran demanded.

“Nothing.” Keith looked around, waiting for fighters to swoop in. For automated guns to fire. “It’s like it was abandoned.”

“Matt said he was here.” Pidge’s voice sounded uncertain over the coms. “An hour ago.”

“He could have disconnected the security systems.” Lance offered. “Maybe whichever warlord is in charge didn’t want Prince Douche messing with his style.”

“I don’t know guys.” Yellow’s tail swished angrily. “I don’t like the feeling of this.”

 _Me neither_ , Black growled in the back of Keith’s head.

“We should pull back.” Hunk cautioned. “Until we know more.”

“Pidge?” Keith asked.

“Nothing. No activity from the base. Like it was just wiped out. Your call, Keith.”

Keith looked at the com screen, where everyone looked expectantly back at him. He hesitated.

“Let’s see what’s on the surface.”

They dove to the surface, and landed the Lions outside the base. Keith was the first to jump out of his Lion’s mouth and down to the ground. His bayard materialized in his hand.

“Shiro?”

“Yeah?”

“Anything on your end?”

“Nothing.”

Lance approached with his bayard already in riffle form. “What do you think?”

Keith looked around. “Take Pidge, go up to the roof. Find an entry point and work your way down. Hunk, Allura and I will start here and meet you halfway.”

“Alright.”

“Lance.”

“What?”

“If you find Lotor, don’t engage. Wait for backup.”

Lance scowled but said, “Alright.” he turned. “Pidge! You’re with me!”

She jogged over. Lance gave Keith a curt nod and the two headed carefully towards the building. Keith looked back at Hunk and Allura.

“Ready?”

“Let’s go.”

Up ahead, Pidge grabbed Lance’s arm and used her bayard to pull them up onto the roof. Hunk and Allura followed Keith towards the main hangar entrance.

There was a body lying right near the entrance. Allura grimaced as she turned it over. There was a single laser shot to the chest.

“This isn’t Lotor.” Allura said. “He’d never leave a mess like this.”

Hunk looked at Keith. “Or it’s a distraction.”

“From what?”

“We’re in.” Lance said.

“Shiro, are you sure there’s nothing?”

“We’re clear, here. Coran is going to rerun the scans, okay?”

Keith led the other two further into the base. Lights flickered and blinked.

Hunk froze and swung his gun up. “Something moved.”

“What -”

A droid rushed out of the shadows, and Hunk fired. The droid sputtered and exploded.

Three more came into the light.

“Lance, Pidge, there are active droids.”

“Yeah, we noticed.” Lance grunted.

Keith rushed at a droid, bayard swinging up. Behind him, Allura grunted as she went after her own.

“Keith!”

“What is it, Shiro?”

“We’ve been boarded.”

“What?” Keith plunged his sword through the droid. “How?”

“They appeared out of nowhere. Lotor’s ship is in the docking bay.”

“What?” Everyone screeched.

“There’s droids -”

The com cut out. Hunk shot the last droid.

“Shiro? Coran? Come in. Shiro!”

Keith looked at the others. “What do we -”

“Pidge!”

Keith wildly looked at the ceiling as he heard Lance cry out over the coms.

“Lance!”

“What happened?” Hunk demanded.

“He’s hit.” Pidge grunted. “Pushed me out of the way.”

“I’m fine.” Lance gasped into the com. “Pidge, you alright?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s going on? What happened to Shiro and Coran?”

“We don’t know.” Hunk said. “You sure you’re alright, buddy?”

“Yeah.”

“Pidge is he alright?” Keith asked.

“I don’t...yeah. He’s fine.”

“Is he telling you to say that?”

“Keith, I’m fine. We’ve got to get back to the castle.”

They moved back outside, and Keith sent Hunk and Allura up into their Lions while he waited for Pidge and Lance. They used their jet packs to slow their descent from the roof.

“Pidge, I need you to go ahead of us and scan the castle.”

“Roger.”

Keith looked at Lance. There was a burn mark on his chest plate.

“Lance?”

His face was set, and Keith couldn’t tell if he was in pain. “Let’s go.”

Lance was really scaring Keith. There was a darkness in his eyes that wasn’t supposed to be there.

Keith turned back to the Lions. “Hunk, start scanning frequencies. Coran probably has a back-up plan and could be trying to reach us. Allura, it’s your ship. What’s the best point of entry?”

“I’m not sure.”

“How are you not sure?”

“Well, it depends on what’s wrong with the ship. If it’s in lockdown, we may not be able to get in at all.” She hesitated. “And we didn’t necessarily keep an eye on Lotor when he was with us. He could have done anything…”

“Only because you wouldn’t let me.” Lance mumbled.

“Lance, not now.” Keith snapped. “I need you to scout ahead, see who else Lotor brought with him.”

Lance nodded and ran for Red, and Keith bit his lip when he saw how he was holding his arm. Quiznack, they were screwed if Lance couldn’t shoot. Keith got into the Black Lion and waited for all the others to take off before leaving the planet himself.

“Hunk, anything?”

“Not yet.”

“Pidge?”

“The Castle appears to be shut down.” Her voice was quiet, almost reverent. “Life support and gravity are still on, but not much else.”

“Could Lotor have done that?”

“Maybe with a virus. I don’t know why he would, though. Once the castle is off, only Allura can turn it back on.”

“He didn’t.” Allura said. She smiled. “Coran, Coran, you beautiful man. He must have shut it down to stop Lotor from taking control. He and Shiro are probably barricaded in the control room.”

“How long will that take?”

“Not long. The castle shut down would turn off any security systems. The only thing keeping them from Lotor is a metal door.”

Lance grunted into the coms, and when Keith glanced at his screen he saw that Lance had taken off half of his armour and was slapping a blue medic patch onto his shoulder. Of course the idiot was hurt.

“Can we talk about why the hell Lotor is doing all of this in the first place? What does he want?”

“The ship?”

“He has a ship. A much faster ship. And he caused a distraction to make sure all the lions were out, so he’s not after Voltron.”

Hunk gasped. “He wants Allura.”

“What?”

“Well, think about it. He went through all of the trouble of putting Allura infront of the White Lion. And by now he knows that Shiro is back, and we’ve been perpetuating that he’s the Black Paladin again. Photos from that party on Rowleigh have been circulating, he probably thinks what we want everyone to think.”

“That Allura isn’t the Blue Paladin anymore.” Pidge finished. “Oh, shit. He pulled us out to get to her.”

“Lance, report!”

“Mmmmph.” Lance finished resecuring his chest plate. “Nothing. Nothing surrounding the ship, at least not that I can see. He must have just planned on grabbing her and getting out.”

“We have to get Shiro and Coran out of there.” Allura said. “Who knows what Lotor will do?”

“Alright. How do we get in?”

“The front door.” Allura’s brow was set. “It’s wide open.”

“Shiro said there were bots everywhere.” Hunk reminded them. “We could be walking right into a trap.”

“It’s our best chance. If we open an airlock from the outside with the power down, there’s no guarantee we could shut it again.”

“What if we left the Lions outside and jumped across?” Lance offered.

“So Lotor could have someone swing by and pick them up with a tractor beam?” Pidge asked incredulously. “Great idea, Lance.”

“There’s no one in this quadrant! The only inhabited planet in this system is the one we were just on. And Lotor killed everyone there!”

“We don’t know that for sure.”

“Seriously? Pidge, you saw that mess room - “

“Both of you, shut up.” Keith snapped, then internally winced. Yes, he was exactly the leader Shiro wanted him to be. What did they see in the mess room? There wasn’t time for this. “We’ll go in the front. Carefully!”

The slowly glided the Lions into the main hanger, cramming them in as best they could. The lights were low, running on power reserves. Lance grumbled about how ridiculous it all was as he climbed out of Red, until Keith yelled at him to shut up again.

This was exactly why he should have never kissed him…That was just hours ago. It still hadn’t been addressed. He hadn’t told Lance anything...he didn’t know what Lance wanted from him...

Focus. Not the time.

Turn it off.

He had been so good at it for so long.

“Pidge, run a scan.” Keith said mechanically.

“Three lifeforms.” Pidge responded quietly. “Two in the control room. One in the...in the Throne Room?”

“Quiznack.” Allura hissed. “Lotor.”

“What?”

“There are secondary controls in the Throne Room. It will take him a while to gain access, but not long enough.”

“There’s bots everywhere.” Pidge muttered. “Mostly clustered outside the control room, but patrolling as well. He’s expecting us.”

“We should split up.” Keith said. “Hunk, you and Allura go get Shiro and Coran out of the Control Room. Pidge, Lance - “

“Where’s Lance?”

Keith whipped around as a door hissed shut. Through the little window, he could see Lance’s messy hair. There was the sound of a blaster and Keith’s heart sank. He was making sure they wouldn’t follow.

“Lance, what the fuck are you doing?”

“It will take the four of you to get through the bots.” Lance said, and his face disappeared. “I’ll take care of Lotor.”

“Lance, you idiot, get back here!” Keith whipped around at the rest of the group. “When did he get like this?”

Hunk looked pale. “I told you. He thinks Lotor is his responsibility.”

“He’ll be fine.” Pidge said. “Come on, we have to get to the Control Room. If we can turn everything back on, we can take Lotor out before he kills Lance.”

Lance was a good fighter. But he was hurt. And Lotor was better.

Allura led everyone through a door on the other side of the hanger. The hallway was dark, only lit by glowing emergency lights. A bot moved up ahead, and Pidge quickly took it out with her grappling hook.

“Get away from that!”

“Lance?”

Lotor’s voice was distant, but they could just hear him coming in over Lance’s com.

“Blue Paladin. I’m surprised.”

Hunk peared around a corner.

“I expected Shiro. Maybe even your lover, the Galra boy.”

Keith froze.

“But not you. I always took you for the damsel.”

“She’s not here, Lotor. You can’t turn the castle on without her.”

“I don’t need her for that.” Lotor’s voice was getting louder, closer to Lance. “But I suppose I could leave her a gift.”

Hunk looked at Keith in horror. “He’s going to kill him.”

Keith turned and ran back down the way they came from. Over his com, he heard Lance grunt as his fight with Lotor began. Keith switched off the line and almost instantly regretted it.

He burst into the hangar and swung his bayard up, charging at the door Lance had locked.

It took thirty precious seconds to cut through the door. Once through, Keith sprinted. He could hear the clang of metal on metal up ahead.

“Keith! Come in!”

Allura.

“What?”

“We’re at the control room. There’s thirty bots trying to get in.”

Keith stopped and groaned. Lance cried out, and it echoed through the still hallways.

“Keith, go!” Hunk shouted. “We’ve got this.”

Keith ran.

After what felt like an eternity, he reached the Throne Room.

Lotor was holding Lance by the face, two feet off the ground. His fingers were digging into his cheeks, and red blood dripped over his fingers.

“Did you really think they’d come for you?” Lotor hissed. “That he’d come?”

“I’m just a distraction.” Lance smiled, his voice weak and shaking. “It’s what I’m good at.”

“Hey, asshole.”

Lotor turned and glared at Keith. Lance’s eyes widened.

“Wrong fucking damsel.”

Lotor tossed Lance aside like a rag doll. He hit the base of the throne and crumpled. Before Keith could even react Lotor was charging at him.

He was fast. And strong. Their swords clanged and reverberated. Lotor pushed Keith back towards the door, and nearly sliced his hand off when he tried to see if Lance was moving.

Focus.

He’ll be fine.

He’s always fine.

Lotor grunted when Keith kicked him in the stomach, but it didn’t have the effect he wanted. He backed up, but came at Keith again.

“Keith, we’re in!”

Keith paused, and it cost him. Lotor swung low, Keith blocked but it was a second too late. The edge of his sword split open his middle.

It felt hot.

Keith stumbled back, and swung. Lotor blocked, and grabbed his throat. Keith grunted as Lotor’s sword went through his middle.

“NO!”

Lotor dropped him in a pile on the floor. He turned and laughed at Lance, trying to stand. Blood poured down his face.

“You can’t -”

Lance lifted his bayard up, took two seconds to aim, and fired. Lotor swayed, and fell flat on his back. A laser burn perfectly centered on his forehead.

Keith couldn’t move.

“Keith!”

Lance’s face swam above him.

“Lance?”

“Help! Hunk! Shiro! Help!” Lance tapped his cheek. “Stay with me. God damn it! Don’t close your eyes.”

Keith coughed and moaned. “Lance, I…”

“Shut up, shut up! You’re going to be fine. HELP! Shiro! Coran! Anyone...Keith, keep your fucking eyes open!”

“I’m…”

“We still have to find a planet with a sunset. And play darts. I can’t do this without you.”

Lance had rivers of tears clearing the blood on his face. He had to close his eyes. He didn’t want to see Lance like that.

“Keep your eyes open!”

“Lance what’s...oh my God.”

Keith dragged his eyes open and Shiro’s face swam into focus. Suddenly he was floating, rising through the air.

“It’s alright, Keith.”

Now he was being moved. He couldn’t keep his head up. He let it loll back and saw Lance. Lance shouldn’t look so scared like that. He looked better when he smiled.

“You’re going to be okay.”

Lance fell out of view.

“Lance!”

“I’m fine! Go!”

Keith was moving again, and he felt cold.

“Princess! We need power, now!”

“I’m working on it.”

“Holy - “

“Help me get his armour off!”

“Where’s Lance?”

“He fell over, he’s not in great shape either.”

“I’m gonna go find him.”

Hands were gently tugging his chest plate off. He groaned, and suddenly everything was bright and blinding.

“There’s so much blood…”

“Stay awake Keith. Just a little longer.”

He was upright, gently being placed against cushions. He looked up to see Hunk supporting Lance in.

“You need to get in a pod, Lance.”

The glass shut over him, and Lance stumbled towards him.

The cold rushed over him, and everything went black.

~*~

Keith woke up looking at the stars.

He remembered this. They were the plastic glow in the dark ones. He had never actually seen them, but he had heard about them. They were Lance’s.

He sat up and looked around. He was covered in a blue seashell patterned sheet. There was a poster of the solar system tacked to the wall next to him. The desk was surprisingly tidy, the closet was bursting with clothes.

He had seen it all in pictures. The tiny ones on Lance’s old phone. He only kept it charged to look at those photos.

Keith rubbed his face and put his feet down on the plush blue carpet. Why was he in Lance’s house?

Lotor’s face swam in front of him. Did he win? Did they go home?

Keith got out of bed and wandered down the hall. The hardwood floors were warm, and creaky. He heard singing, and followed it.

Lance.

Of course it was Lance. He was humming while he stood at an old gas stove, his slender body shifting with the rhythm.

“Hey, Kiddo.”

He turned around. “Dad?”

His father was leaning on a wall. From here, Keith could smell his Black and Milds and leftover coffee.

“Am I…”

Lotor’s sword plunging through his stomach.

“Did he kill me?”

“No. Not yet.” He smiled sadly. “You did good. But, it might be time.”

“Time?”

“To leave.”

Keith looked back at Lance.

“I...I don’t…”

“He will be fine.”

Lance walked away from the stove to look out the window. For a second, like a double image, Keith saw blood caked on his cheek, then it disappeared.

“He’ll make it a part of him, just like every heartbreak he’s suffered. The others will support him, hold him up the way he’s done for them.”

He looked back at his father. “But…”

“Voltron will go on. The war will go on, and it won’t end anytime soon. Aren’t you tired?”

He was tired. It wore into his bones. The sleepless nights, the constant fear and worry.

“Haven’t you had enough?”

“I can’t leave.” Keith looked at his father. “I just got him. And I found Mom and I can’t just...I’m a Paladin of Voltron. I can’t just leave.”

“It won’t be easy. None of it.”

“I know.”

His father smiled.

Keith turned away from him for the last time, and stepped into the kitchen. He walked up to Lance and wrapped his arms around his middle, and nuzzled his face into his neck.

Everything went white, and he fell forward, and into a pair of strong arms.

Not Lance.

“Hey, Keith. You’re alright. You’re okay.”

“Shiro?”

Shiro helped him stand upright while his eyes adjusted to the light. All the others peered anxiously at him. Except…

“Where’s Lance?”

Shiro helped him sit and Pidge looked like she was in pain. “We don’t know.”

“What, how?”

“After...after you went into the pod...he...he wouldn’t get in one.”

“What?” Keith looked around at their worried faces. “But he was hurt…”

Pidge looked like she might cry, so she looked away. Allura took over.

“He just sat in here, watching you. We cleaned the blood off, bandaged him...but he wouldn’t move, and...you were in there for almost a quintet...but when it was almost time to get you out he just...got in the Red Lion and left.”

“Can’t we track him?”

“Keith...he’ll come back.” Hunk reassured, sounding like he was speaking to himself as well. “He always does. Come on, let’s get you something to eat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so after this there's one more chapter of fluffy relationshippy stuff and then that's it. I'm actually pretty happy with how this turned out. 
> 
> Then I've got ideas for a post-season 6 thing because I sense even worse things coming Lance's way and I want to do what I can to make us all feel better. That said, I am busy with other things so I'm not sure how much I can actually work on it. 
> 
> Thanks everyone for Kudos and for reading!


	3. Guilty by association, I'll keep you close to me

Keith showered and ate, Hunk watching him nervously the whole time. He was wrapped in the light red sweater Lance had given him for Christmas, but instead if making him feel better it just seemed to make it all worse. Pidge sat and stared at the table, silent.

 

“You alright, Pidge?” 

 

Pidge looked blankly at Keith. “Hmm?”

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah.” she looked away. “...I’m worried about Lance.”

 

“Yeah, me too.”

 

Hunk rested a hand on Pidge’s shoulder, but she shrugged him off and got out of her seat. Keith watched her leave the room.

 

“She hasn’t slept.” 

 

“Because of Lance?”

 

“That’s part of it...she said in her briefing that one of the first rooms they came across was the mess hall...it must have been dinner time when Lotor…”

 

Lance’s words after the party echoed in his head. She’s just a kid. It’s easy to forget, but she’s just a kid. They all were.

 

“She said Lance just...handled it. Pulled her away. But some bots found them and...well, that was when he got shot.”

 

Keith swallowed an uncomfortable tightness in his throat.

 

“He’ll be back.” Hunk said for the thousandth time. “He probably just needed to cool his head.”

 

“And make us worry?”

 

Hunk grimaced. Keith pushed away his food and stood. 

 

“I’m going to bed.”

 

“But -”

 

Keith slipped out of the kitchen, but didn’t go to his bunk. He went for the control room instead. There were deep scratches on the door, but all the bots had been cleared away.

 

No one was inside. Keith crossed to the windows and sat, letting his head tip against the window. 

 

He didn’t know when he fell asleep. He didn’t even really know why he had chosen to wait there.

 

At one point, he woke up to find Coran gently tucking a blanket around him. He didn’t say a word, and didn’t smile.

 

He fell asleep again.

 

_ Little One. _

 

Keith squeezed his eyes tightly shut.

 

_ We’ve returned. _

 

Keith pulled his eyes open, then sat up straight. Red!

 

_ He needs you. _

 

Keith tossed aside the blanket and scrambled up, tripping over himself as he ran. He threw himself into the elevator and pushed the button for the hangers multiple times. 

 

It took an eternity. 

 

When he finally got to the right level, he sprinted towards the red door.

 

“Lance, what were you thinking?”

 

Keith skidded to a stop.

 

“You can’t just...go off on your own. You almost got Keith killed.”

 

“You think I don’t know that?”

 

“Lance?”

 

Lance and Shiro turned and Keith slowly walked in. Shiro grimaced and looked at Lance.

 

“I’ll let you two talk. Lance, we’re not done with this.”

 

Shiro left, giving Keith a tight smile as he passed. Lance openly stared at Keith. If anything, he looked a little dazed. Star struck. He had a white bandage wrapped around his head, and the blue medical patch poked out from under this t-shirt on his shoulder. Five cuts on his cheeks, from Lotor’s nails...those were the ones that made Keith stare.

 

“Keith, I’m really, really sorry.” 

 

Keith just stared at him.

 

“I shouldn’t have...I just thought if I could take care of him…”

 

“Lance. Shut up.”

 

“And then you came after me and you got hurt and I fucked it all up so bad. Shiro’s right to be pissed, you’re pissed. I wasn’t thinking. Lotor was just so in my head.”

 

Keith approached him as he babbled, barely hearing him. Lance flinched when he reached out, but Keith wrapped his arms tightly around him. Making him still. Silent.

 

“Don’t you ever do anything like that again.” Keith mumbled into his shoulder. “Don’t you ever leave like that again.”

 

Lance relaxed in his arms. “I’m sorry...I just...I thought I lost you. And I ruined everything.”

 

“You didn’t. If you hadn’t decided to be an idiot and go after Lotor he would have taken control of the ship before Allura.”

 

“Shiro doesn’t think so.”

 

“Shiro wasn’t leading the mission.”

 

“You almost died. Because of me.”

 

Keith pulled back to look at him. He gently brushed his fingers over the deep, curved cuts on Lance’s cheek. 

 

“How about you leave the reckless behavior to me for awhile?” He suggested softly. 

 

“I thought I was your damsel.”

 

Keith scowled at the cheeky smile that was spreading across his face.

 

“I had a whole epic sword fight, and that’s your take away?”

 

“I mean...you were pretty cool.” His smile faded. “Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah.” Keith lied, thinking about the red scar on his stomach and back. The feeling of Lotor’s sword pushing through his middle. “I’ll be fine. You?”

 

“Getting there.” He gently pressed on his bandage and winced. “I should have gotten in a pod.”

 

Keith suddenly realized he was still holding Lance, and felt his face burn. He started to move away, but Lance ducked down and pressed their lips together. It was quick, and got the point across.

 

“Is that okay?” Lance asked softly. 

 

“...Yeah. I think it’s fine.”

 

Lance smiled. “Good.” 

 

Keith closed the distance between them again, sharing a soft, slow kiss. It made every fiber of Keith’s being burn but at the same time it felt like finally, finally being safe. Nothing could go wrong as long as they were here. 

 

When they pulled apart, Lance rested his forehead against Keith’s. “Thanks for saving me.”

 

“Always. Just don’t do it again.”

 

Lance rolled his eyes.

 

“Thanks for saving me.”

 

“Always.”

 

“Come on. You probably need to sleep.” 

 

~*~

 

Two weeks later Keith came back from a diplomatic mission with his head swirling. He took off his armour in his room and sat, leaning against the wall behind him. He closed his eyes. 

 

He was pretty sure he had been proposed to. Or the King of this planet wanted him to marry his daughter, who looked just as horrified as Keith about the whole thing. It had been extremely unnerving. Usually it was Shiro and Allura who had to deal with this. He remembered turning around to look at Lance, who was cracking up and no help at all. Keith managed to mumble his way through an excuse, and Allura stepped in to smooth it over. 

 

There was a knock and the door slid open, revealing Lance in pajamas. His eyes swept over Keith’s tight flight suit in a way that made him feel vulnerable and electric. “Hey.” 

 

In spite of that, Keith was still very annoyed.

 

Keith rolled his eyes. “Thanks for the help back there, jackass.”

 

“What did I do?” 

 

Keith crossed his arms. “Really?”

 

“Oh, my God, seriously?” Lance was still grinning and Keith wanted to kick him. “You’re mad because I didn’t declare that you were mine or something?”

 

“I’m not mad. But it was a weird situation and you just stood there and laughed.”

 

“Yeah, well, last week when those little Ewok-like things tackled me you stood there and just laughed for like ten dobashes - “

 

“That was totally different.”

 

“Everyone saw, Keith. It was embarrassing. And I couldn’t hurt them, because they were basically Ewoks.” 

 

Keith shook his head, his irritation already ebbing. “They were Hakentalkers.”

 

“They were Ewoks. You know they were Ewoks. Don’t change the subject.”

 

“Really? You’re literally the king of the subject change.”

 

Lance sat next to him and leaned back against the wall as well. “It’s not like you said you were taken.” he pointed out. 

 

Keith groaned and tipped his head back. “I didn’t know what to say. When Shiro asked what we were I didn’t even know what to say. I mean, no offense Lance, but what are we?” 

 

They weren’t dating. They would have to actually get out of the castle and go on dates to be dating. Together was a good word, but Pidge had pointed out that before they were always together anyway, so that didn’t work either. Screwing implicated that there weren’t any emotions involved which was just not that case. At least not for Keith. 

 

Lance was quiet for a minute, then straightened up and turned towards Keith. 

 

“Okay, I hate serious conversations, but we have to have this one. Cause I’ve been thinking about it a lot too. Because I can’t find the right word to describe you. You know? Like, partner doesn’t feel...honestly I always thought it was a little too platonic. Especially for us because we’re always sparring  _ partners _ and  _ partners _ on missions so I don’t like that one.”

 

Keith rose his eyebrows. He had given this a lot of thought.

 

“And you’re not...you’re not a boyfriend. I’ve had a boyfriend before. He was a real jerk and honestly that word is absolutely ruined for me. But at least we know I have a type.” 

 

“Ha ha.” 

 

“He was a much bigger jerk than you, so don’t worry. But that’s out. I would love to just say, ‘Oh, he’s my ride or die’ but I do not want to have to explain that every time we visit a new planet. Plus the constant feelings of dread because I hate to say it or think about it but who knows how much time we actually have together. We’re literally the leaders of a revolution. Honestly, you make me feel safe and scared and alive and complete and that’s just as a person. We’re not bad at the physical stuff either.” 

 

Keith rolled his eyes, but smiled. No, they weren’t bad at that either. 

 

“But until I find a word that covers  _ all _ of that, I don’t want to call you anything. If that’s okay. Like, we’ll just use together until we find something that works. Sound good?” 

 

Keith was still smiling. Smiling at the beautiful boy who was pouring his heart out in word-vomit like the universe was about to be destroyed, which hey, you never knew. Word-vomiting about him. 

 

“Yeah, sounds good to me.”

 

“Great. Now, I’m not having another serious conversation for at least a week. I filled my quota.” Lance sat back against the wall and leaned on Keith’s shoulder. “Kogane, you smell awful.” 

 

“You’re not much better, McClain.” 

 

Lance gave him a wicked grin. “Share the shower with you. Save water.”

 

“Last time we did that, we were in there for an hour.” 

 

But Lance was already standing and pulling his shirt over his head. His strong back was pock-marked with scars and Keith found himself staring. “I don’t have anywhere to be.” 

 

Keith was up and following Lance into the bathroom in a flash. Lance turned around and ripped his flight suit down, his expression hungry and somehow dark. Keith shivered, and not from the cold bathroom, but he grabbed Lance by the elastic waist of his pants and pulled him into the shower, smacking the button to turn on the water. Within seconds, they were both soaked, but it hardly mattered. Lance shoved him against a tiled wall and kissed him, their hands moving everywhere. Keith impatiently tugged on his pajama pants and Lance pulled away. 

 

“Just incase it wasn’t clear earlier,” Lance said lowly, “I am yours. Even if you run off to marry some alien princess, I’m still yours.” 

 

Keith nodded and slid his hands back up his body, looping around his neck to run into his hair. The cuts on Lance’s cheeks had healed over into angry pink lines, and on his shoulder was a small burn mark. Lance’s hand was holding the scar from Lotor’s sword on Keith’s back - it tended to gravitate towards that spot and Keith wondered if he did it on purpose.

 

“Won’t happen, princesses just don’t do it for me.” 

 

“Jerk.” Lance muttered, leaning in to kiss him again. “You’re mine, Kogane. Admit it.”

 

“Yeah. Always.”

 

~*~

 

“Babe. Time to get up.”

 

Keith groaned and pulled the blankets over his head. “I hate you.”

 

“No you don’t. Come on, I know you had a long night but you’ll feel human again when you eat.”

 

“Half human.”

 

“I’ll put the blood of your enemies in your cheerios for you. Celebrate your galra half.”

 

Keith smiled but kept his eyes shut.

 

“Get up, okay? I’ll see you soon.”

 

The door opened then shut, and Keith rolled over and opened his eyes.

 

The room was a mess. He wasn’t surprised, two boys sharing...There hadn’t been a lot of free time lately. Maybe he’d get to cleaning it today.

 

The last few months hadn’t been easy. Worth it, but not easy.

 

Keith sat up and picked up the pants he had been wearing the day before. He dug through the pockets until he found the little grey capture he always carried on missions. He pressed the button on the side. 

 

A hologram of Team Voltron popped up. Hunk’s big smile. Coran’s mustache front and center. Shiro and Allura in the back. Pidge looking annoyed because Lance was using her as an armrest. Lance was using his other arm to pull Keith right close to him. He had a huge grin on his face, and even Keith was smiling.

 

Keith turned it off and placed it on the shelf next to the bunk, then got up. He dug around for clean clothes, and settled for a t-shirt that didn’t smell dirty and pants. Almost as an afterthought, he grabbed a baggy green hoodie and pulled it on.

 

It was hard at first. Even after everything they were so different. And too stubborn for anyone’s good. The bickering was manageable - it drove everyone up the wall but it wasn’t as bad as the fights. The fights were bad.

 

And the missions that never ended. The fear and worry. Sleepless nights. Aches from scars.

 

But he became his comfort.

 

Keith had trouble sleeping. So he started sneaking into Lance’s room at night. To talk. Mostly.

 

Which was fine. Or would be. If Keith wasn’t such a light sleeper and Lance didn’t toss and turn and mutter constantly. Sometimes Keith woke up to Lance screaming, calling his name. Keith would shake him awake and Lance would hold him so tight it almost hurt. It took a month before they could actually sleep through a night together. When they did, it was because Keith had wrapped himself around Lance, keeping him still. 

 

It wasn’t long after they figured that out that everyone noticed that Keith was never in his own room. 

 

_ “Keith, I know you’re dating him.” Shiro had said in his resigned dad voice. “But you can’t spend every night in his room.” _

 

_ A thousand arguments rushed into Keith’s head. A lot of them stupid. A big one being that Shiro couldn’t decide to treat them like children now, after everything else.  _

 

_ “Why not?” Lance demanded, cutting through Keith’s dizzying thoughts. _

 

_ “It’s not appropriate.”  _

 

_ “It’s not like he’s going to get me pregnant.” _

 

_ Pidge let out a shout of laughter, then slapped a hand over her mouth. Shiro stood there and stared at Lance for a thirty ticks before turning around and walking out of the room. _

 

A week later, Keith moved what few belongings he had into Lance’s room. 

 

In the present, Keith stumbled into the kitchen. Pidge was on her laptop, Shiro sitting and breathing in the steam from his tea.

 

“Here comes the sun, do do do do.

Here comes the sun, and I say

It’s all right.”

 

No one else was up yet. Keith walked into the kitchen and wrapped his arms tightly around Lance’s waist. 

 

“Hey, sleepy.”

 

Keith grumbled into his shoulder.

 

Lance chuckled and ruffled his hair. “Wearing my hoodie again?”

 

“It’s too tight across your shoulders.” Keith pulled away and leaned against a counter. “Did you train already?”

 

“No, I thought maybe we could take a day off.”

 

“For what?”

 

Lance shrugged. “Just thought maybe we needed a day off.”

 

He was being weird, but it would come out eventually. Lance handed him a steaming mug and smiled. The only scar on his face was the one right in the middle of his cheek. From Lotor’s thumb.

 

Lance glanced at the table to make sure no one was watching and gave him a long, deep kiss. Keith let him pull him close and lingered there. Finally, he pulled away.

 

“What’s that for?”

 

Lance smiled and shrugged then went back to heating up food for everyone. Keith went to the table and sat next to Shiro.

 

“You alright?” he asked.

 

Shiro grunted at him. 

 

“Okay then.”

 

“Little darling, it’s been an awful lonely winter.

Little darling, it feels like years since you’ve been here.”

 

“Keith, can you pass me that tablet?”

 

Keith reached for the piece and handed it over to Pidge. She glanced over into the kitchen and leaned forward to whisper, “Is he alright? He seems like he’s in a weird mood.”

 

Keith grimaced and shrugged. If Pidge noticed that Lance was acting weird, something probably was wrong. Lance sometimes got into these weird funks, and there wasn’t much anyone could do to pull him out. Keith would simply patiently wait it out, trying to be there without being overbearing. 

 

“Well, he’s your lifemate.”

 

“Lifemate?” Keith asked, confused. “What’s that?”

 

Pidge looked just as confused as Keith. “Isn’t that...I thought that was what you decided ‘the magic word’ was. I heard Krolia referring to Lance as that the other day. ‘My son and his lifemate’.”

 

“What does it mean?”

 

“The hell if I know.”

 

“I’m pretty sure it’s a Galra term.” Shiro spoke up, still staring at his tea. “The guards when I was in prison spoke about their lifemates from time to time.”

 

“Huh.”

 

Lance came over carrying a couple of plates. He set them down on the table and ruffled Pidge’s hair before sitting next to Keith. 

 

“What’s your plan for the day?” Keith asked.

 

“Mmm...gotta clean Red. She’s getting fed up with how messy things are. You?”

 

“Cleaning our room.”

 

“You want help?”

 

“No, it’s my turn anyway. You sure you don’t want to train today? We should at least do a light workout.”

 

Lance made a face. “Fine.”

 

Keith reached over and squeezed his hand, then turned back to his breakfast. 

 

“Pidge, wanna join?” 

 

She made a face similar to Lance’s but said, “Sure.”

 

“Shiro?”

 

“I have to talk to the Alliance with Allura. Maybe next time.”

 

After breakfast Lance disappeared and Keith took care of the dishes. Keith reminded Pidge she had agreed to work out with them, and got a grunt in response. Most likely, she wasn’t actually coming. That was okay though - Pidge joining them meant Lance was more than likely to screw around. 

 

Keith went back to the small bedroom and started to clean. Most of the mess was just piles of dirty clothes, but it still took some work to throw everything into the hamper that would automatically wash, dry and fold everything. He checked all of Lance’s pockets for change, and came up with a good amount in several different currencies. As well as several pens, scraps of paper with doodles on them, a few of Hunk’s make-shift protein bars, and a little grey capture that held a holograph of Lance and Pidge. Keith sighed and put all the items where they belonged. 

 

The room was just too damn small for them. That was what the real problem was. He should just ask Coran if there were any larger rooms they could take. 

 

He heard a buzzing sound and opened a drawer holding five different communication devices - one of which was Lance’s out of service Earth phone. Keith rummaged around until he found the one that was lit up, the one from the Blade, and accepted the communication. His mother’s face filled the screen. 

 

“Hello, Keith.”

 

“Hi, Mom. What’s going on?”

 

“Just wanted to see how you are.” 

 

“I’m okay. Just trying to clean Lance’s mess, as usual. How are you?” 

 

“Good. Fine.” 

 

She started to talk about her most recent mission, and Keith sat on the edge of the bed to listen. He told her about the close call they’d had the day before, navigating too close to a system that was involved in a brutal Civil War. Lance had wanted to help - begged to try to organize a cease-fire. But Shiro had said it was an internal matter and not their place. Now that he thought about it, maybe that was why Lance was in such a weird mood today…

 

“Is Lance around?” Krolia asked. “I wanted to talk to him about your birthday.”

 

Keith groaned. “I told him not to do anything.”

 

“It’s nothing outrageous.” she reassured with a smile. “We were just thinking maybe instead of staying on the castle we’d go to a planet and ‘eat out’ for a change. All of us.” 

 

That actually didn’t sound so bad. 

 

“Oh, Mom?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“The other day...Pidge heard you call Lance my...lifemate?” 

 

“Yes.” She looked confused now. “Isn’t that what he is?”

 

“Well, I have no idea what it means, so…”

 

“Lifemates are...well, Galra don’t have marriages the way that Alteans and Humans do. In fact, most don’t even really have long term relationships. A lifemate is...it’s a word to describe a long term relationship.”

 

“Sounds like a really broad term.”

 

“There’s an underlying sort of...devotion. With that term. Commitment. Complete and total trust. Someone who will stop at nothing for you. Someone who brings things full circle.” She hesitated. “Your father was my lifemate. I had several before him but...he was the one who made me understand the meaning of the word.”

 

“Huh.” 

 

“I’m sorry if I...I just assumed that’s what he was to you.”

 

“It’s alright. I was just curious what it meant, that’s all.” 

 

They talked a bit longer about nonsense, then Krolia got called away. She warned, not told, Keith to take care of himself and Lance, make sure Lance called her about his birthday, and ended the call. Keith put away the communicator and went back to cleaning. As he made the bed, he thought about his conversation with his mother. 

 

Lifemate. What was it she had said? Someone who brings things full circle. That seemed to fit. He was honestly surprised by how much he liked it. 

 

When he was finally done, he changed into loose work out clothes and headed for the training deck. Pidge and Hunk were already there, going through some light warm up stretches. 

 

“Hey.” Keith said, genuinely surprised that they had showed up. 

 

“Get that look off your face.” Pidge said. “We do train, just not with you guys.” 

 

“Why not?”

 

Hunk snorted. “Because you and Lance go way too hard. Pidge said you were doing a light work out today, so we figured we’d be safe.” 

 

“We don’t go hard.” 

 

“Maybe not for you guys. But you’re like...the warriors of Team Voltron. Totally different level.”

 

Pidge nodded and agreement and Keith just shook his head. “Whatever. Where is he anyway?” 

 

“He said he was going to get changed - “

 

“Here!” Lance breezed in wearing a t-shirt and shorts. “Hey! Hunk, Buddy, you made it!” 

 

“We are keeping this to a light workout, right?” Hunk repeated. “I don’t feel like dying today.” 

 

“Yeah, of course.” Lance reassured. “We won’t go too hard on you.” 

 

“Cause like, I know your boyfriend’s Galra genes makes him like Captain America and you can keep up but the rest of us can’t.” 

 

Keith could just about hear the stamina joke forming in Lance’s mind and immediately took control of the training session. 

 

“Right. So. Let’s stretch out and then I was thinking we could do some drills.”

 

It ended up being a pretty good session. Pidge and Hunk both thought they would die when Keith led them through sprints. To their credit, they didn’t give up. They kept going, managing to keep up even with red faces and short breaths. But when Keith suggested maybe they do some light combat work, he got a hard no. 

 

“I am not fighting either of you.” Pidge said, firmly sitting on the floor in a refusal to get back up. “Last time I did, I ended up in a pretzel on the floor and I’m still not sure how I got there.”

 

“We could do teams.” Lance suggested, but Keith knew he was sort of done anyway. He hadn’t wanted to work out in the first place today, but Keith pushed him because he knew it was good for him. 

 

“No. Way. The two of you together are absolutely lethal. It must be a lifemates thing.”

 

Lance frowned. “A what thing?”

 

“Alright, no combat.” Keith shrugged. “Let’s just cool down.”

 

“What’s a lifemate?” 

 

“Lance, help everyone stretch out.” 

 

“Tell me what a lifemate is.” 

 

“Lance.”

 

“Keith.”

 

They stared each other down, and Lance scowled and gave in. “Fine. Don’t tell me.” 

 

“I’ll tell you later.” Keith promised. “Lead us through stretches.”

 

“Babe, there’s better ways to tell me I’m flexible.”

 

“Oh, my God.” Pidge grumbled. “I almost forgot the real reason I hate training with you. The flirting.”

 

Lance grinned. “I mean, maybe it’s a good idea not to do combat. Sometimes when we grapple I forget where we are.”

 

“LANCE!”

 

“We are never doing this again.” Hunk said, looking at the ceiling. “Never, ever again.”

 

Still smirking, Lance straightened up and started leading the cool down stretches. As soon as Lance announced they were done, Pidge and Hunk bolted. Lance glanced over at Keith. “That went well.” 

 

“I think you scared them off.” 

 

“They’ll be back.”

 

“Hey, you sure you’re alright?” Keith asked as they sat on the floor and reached for their water bottles. They usually took time to sit and talk after their sessions before going separate ways until dinner or a mission. “You just seem a little off today.”

 

Lance shrugged, and Keith patiently waited. It had taken a while for Keith to realize that for someone who talked so much, Lance wasn’t actually a very open person. They were very similar in that way. It had taken a lot of work, a lot of fighting about not telling each other the truth about injuries and slights and when one needed space and when one desperately needed attention and didn’t know how to ask for it. But they got there. 

 

“I just wish we could have helped that system, yesterday.” Lance finally sighed. “Shiro’s right. It’s not our business. But we could have organized a truce.”

 

“Maybe.” Keith sipped water. “But we’d have to understand all the details of both sides of the war. It’s better to let them sort it for themselves.”

 

“Until they destroy each other?” 

 

“Hey, I don’t like it either. And I get wanting to help. But sometimes, you can’t.” 

 

“Yeah, I know.”

 

He still looked a little distressed and Keith’s heart wanted to burst because he was just too damn compassionate. So he changed the subject. 

 

“So, I was thinking, maybe we should ask Coran for a larger room.” 

 

“Why?” 

 

“Because you’re a slob and that room is too small for two people to live in it when one is a slob.” 

 

“Please, it’s not like you’re the cleanest person ever, Mullet.”

 

Keith rolled his eyes. “We at least need more storage. My mom called earlier and I almost missed the call because I couldn’t find the right communicator.” 

 

“I mean, I won’t say no to a bigger room. You think he’ll give us one?”

 

“Probably. You should ask, though. You’re his favorite.”

 

“A good choice.” Lance nodded seriously, and Keith reached over and swatted him. He grinned. “What did your mom want to talk about?”

 

“Just checking in. She wants you to call her about my birthday, even though I told you I didn’t want to do anything.”

 

“Yeah, well, tough luck.” Lance lay on his back. “Just trying to do something nice for you.” 

 

“Just promise me you won’t go nuts. I don’t need a McClain-Christmas type extravaganza.” 

 

“Well, what do you want to do then? Now that I’m losing my deposit on the strippers.” 

 

“Ideally? If I have to do something? We go out for dinner, no one buys me anything, no one even mentions that it’s my birthday, we just be together as a group.”

 

“Well, fine. Cept you are getting presents, because everyone already has something for you. Well, mine is more of a performance art.” 

 

He wagged his eyebrows and Keith snorted and nudged him with his foot. 

 

“I’m kidding. But I did already get you something. So, too late. But, I will do my best to keep everyone from making too big of a deal.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Anything for my lifemate.” Lance said easily, then glanced up at his shocked expression. “That’s your idea for our word, right? What does it mean?”

 

Keith’s throat was dry. He hadn’t had this much trouble speaking since he realized how hopelessly in love he was and there was no way Lance could ever know. Especially given the fact that he realized this because Lance had whispered something horrible and dirty and cringe-worthy in his ear and he still wanted to kiss him. But then Lance straight up told him a month into their relationship that he loved him in another fit of word vomit and it was just...no going back.

 

“It’s a Galra term.” Keith said carefully. 

 

Lance was slowly sitting up. “Okay, speaking to your Galra half. Already liking this.” 

 

“I guess they really only had one word for any type of long term relationship, because they usually don’t commit. Lifemates. But it kind of encompasses...my mom was saying there was a lot of trust that went into that term. Always having your back, always there. What did she say...someone who brings things full circle.” 

 

Lance was looking at him with a completely unreadable expression. 

 

“You know what? Nevermind. We can use something else.” Keith mumbled. “Sorry. We’ll find it. Eventually.” 

 

But Lance lunged forward and knocked Keith back onto the soft floor, pressing his face into his neck. 

 

“Quiznack, Lance, what’s wrong?” 

 

“It’s perfect.” Lance mumbled into his skin. “I love it. I love you. You’re my lifemate, and I love you.”

 

Keith smiled and loosely wrapped his arms around him. “Always?”

 

“Always.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading!
> 
> I'm working on a post-season 6 story now. I think it'll be really good! Hope to see you all there!


End file.
